Ten Marines from the Indian Navy were Wednesday putting the final touches to preparations to ski to the North Pole. ( dpa )
Several of the marines earlier participated in expeditions that have taken them to the South Pole and a few had also climbed Mount Everest.
If the North Pole trip is successful, the Marines will be able to boast with three members who have achieved the feat of reaching the North Pole, South Pole and Mount Everest.
Fewer than two dozen people have to date managed that, Norwegian news agency NTB reported.
"We are well trained," expedition leader, Commander Satyabrata Dam told NTB, and added jokingly that the team "looked forward to meeting polar bears in the Arctic."
Dam said the expedition members had trained hard under severe weather conditions at a special camp for survival training located in Kashmir.
Each member was to pull an individual sleigh that fully packed weighs some 80 kilos.