Chandraprabha Aitwal was born on 24 December 1941 in the Dharchula area of Pithoragarh district. She received her early education from Chhangaru, which lies in the beautiful Vyas valley of Uttarakhand. After doing high school at Government Inter College Pangu (Pithoragarh) in 1956, she went to Nainital to do her intermediates. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) from Nainital itself. And then, she did her post-graduation education from C.P.Ed in 1966.
After doing that, she was appointed as a teacher in Government Inter College Pithoragarh and remained there till 1986. Since 1986 she was appointed as the Officer of Special Duty (Adventure) Collectorate in Uttarkashi of Uttarakhand.
She completed her Basic Mountaineering Course from NIM, Uttarkashi, in 1972 and Advanced Mountaineering Course in 1975. She then completed her introductory skiing course from the ‘Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering,’ Gulmarg, in 1979 and Intermediate Skiing Course in 1980. In the period from 1978 to 1983, She worked as a trainer in Uttarkashi. During the training itself, she climbed many mountain peaks. Seeing her work in mountaineering, she was appointed by the Uttar Pradesh government as a special officer for adventure activities.
Apart from being a mountaineer, she is also fond of river rafting. Chandraprabha Aitwal has successfully climbed many peaks like the Shivling peak, Bandarpunch peak, Kamet mountain, Nandakot mountain, Satopantha, and others. She successfully climbed Shrikanth Peak as a team leader with the Indian Mountain Foundation.
Chandraprabha Aitwal has been honored with dozens of awards, including the Arjuna Award, Padma Shri, National Adventure Award, Nain Singh, Kishan Singh Lifetime Achievement Award, Tenzing Norgay Adventure Lifetime Achievement Award.
ChandraprabhaAitwal is still engaged in encouraging daughters of mountains to take up mountaineering as their career. It is the fortune of Uttarakhand that daughters like ChandraprabhaAitwal have been born here. This Uttarakhandi Mountaineer was specially invited to the recently held Mountaineering Summit in Uttarkashi. In which she also taught many tricks to the mountaineers. People still give examples of Chandraprabha Aitwal’s courage and patience.