New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS): The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) central mountaineering team has scaled the 20,177 feet high Karzok Kangri peak in Ladakh amid extreme weather conditions, the Force officials said here on Wednesday.

The team of six ITBP mountaineers was led by the ace mountaineer Commandant Ratan Singh Sonal and Deputy Commandant Anoop Negi. This was the first ever ascent to Mount Karzok Kangri, located in the cold desert of Ladakh. The minimum temperature here is minus 40 degrees Celsius now.

"The team did not use any special mountaineering equipment and support system and completed the ascent on February 20 with high level of physical stamina and mutual coordination of the group," the ITBP Public Relation Officer Vivek Kumar Pandey said.

The Force had completed more than 225 mountaineering expeditions which is a distinctive record of the mountain warfare trained Force, Pandey further added.

Raised on October 24, 1962, the ITBP primarily guards 3,488 km long India-China borders ranging from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh.

Most of the ITBP's Border Out Posts (BOPs) are located at altitudes ranging from 9,000 ft to 18,800 ft where temperatures drop to minus 45 degrees Celsius during winters.

The ITBP is also a specialised Armed Police Force of the nation which trains its personnel in various disciplines including mountaineering and skiing apart from intensive tactical training, thereby creating a distinctive image of the Force.

It also conducts relief and rescue operations as 'First Responders' for natural calamities in the Himalayan region.