Enjoying the latest book!

It finally arrived! After what feels like a lifetime trying to get this book over the finish line, it was a real moment to actually hold it in my hands as a real physical object!

To get this far has taken huge effort not just by me but by my co-authors - the members of the Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition team - each of whom have written their own story within the book, and of course, our long-suffering publisher Kevin Stevens at Imagine! who had to organise our jumble of content into one engaging narrative.

The book will be released in the US in November and is already available for pre-order on the online sites of all the major book sellers and some independent ones too.

Here’s what the jacket blurb says:

This inspiring account of a diverse all-women's expedition to the North Pole reveals the highs and lows of record-breaking, modern-day exploration.

"A wonderful collaboration both on the Arctic ice and onto the page. Each team members voice arises to offer a view beyond the physical giving us the essence of a unique adventure." - Ann Bancroft, first woman to reach the North Pole.

When British Explorer Felicity Aston put out an open call for women with little to no experience willing to brave the elements on an expedition to the North Pole, she was stunned to have over 1000 applicants. After narrowing it down to ten women from ten different countries--some of whom had never seen snow before--the team spent the next two years training for this unique opportunity. Each member of the team tells part of the story in her own words, chronicling their grueling preparation in Iceland and Oman, the anticipation for the journey, and the terrifying conditions of the Arctic. Set against a backdrop of Arctic pack ice that is thinner, newer, and less stable than ever before due to climate change--the team face the realities of hungry polar bears, extreme temperatures, and the possibility that anything and everything could go wrong at any moment. Aston beautifully weaves each woman's account into the greater expedition narrative, reminding readers of the teamwork needed to complete such a feat. Over 60 stunning photographs illustrate the journey, illuminating the breathtaking landscape along with the joy, pain, and determination of these ten women. Polar Exposure is a powerful celebration of the perseverance of women in science, sports, and exploration that sheds light on all that it takes to reach the top of the world.

Alaska

I was invited as a guest aboard the Queen Elizabeth for a journey from Vancouver along the coast of Alaska as far as the Hubbard Glacier and back.

It included a call into Skagway which I last visited when filming Operation Gold Rush several years ago. Back then we followed the Chilkoot trail retracing the steps of the 100,000 people that stampeded into the Yukon during the goldrush of 1898 and spent some time digging for gold outside Dawson City just as they had done in the Klondike a century before (albeit with a large production team to help!).

It was wonderful to tell the story of that adventure again and brought back lots of very good memories - although I was grateful that this journey involved far more cake and cocktails than the previous visit…

Harvesting eiderdown on Vigur

June is THE month on Vigur. The eiderducks that nest in their thousands all across the island have been sitting on eggs for weeks and the first begin to hatch at the beginning of June. We spotted our first ducklings on 3rd June and soon after, the harvest of the eiderdown began.

The eider sheds its down as it starts to sit on its eggs and uses the down to line the next and keep the eggs warm. But as soon as the eggs hatch, the ducklings don’t need that warmth anymore and that is when we can collect in the eiderdown - but we must time it perfectly. If we take the down too early, we risk the eggs, leave it too late and the down is already lost on the wind and to the sea.

We search the island, section by section, visiting each and every nest - sometimes twice or more! - until the time is perfect. The harvest means long days and a lot of walking up and down in tall grass, scrambling up hillsides and even the odd cliff - but to return home with bulging bags and to see the empty barn slowly fill is very rewarding.

Very grateful to everyone who helps us on Vigur during the harvest - we couldn’t do it without you x

Drangajokull

As a continuation of the snow, ice and water samples gathered in Svalbard last month, this week I went to the northernmost glacier in Iceland - Drangajokull - to collect some complimentary data.

Drangajokull is remote even by Icelandic standards and very seldom visited. We found that the known access route, such as it is, was blocked by snow. Luckily I had the best team with me who were able to find a route up onto the summit of the glacier. It was a long day with weather closing in - but time enough for me to collect a full set of snow and ice samples at two different locations. One happy scientist!

The next day, bad weather prevented us returning to the summit of the glacier but we were able to get into Kaldalon instead, a deep valley that continues into and almost under the glacier above. It was an intimidating place but a real adventure to be able to sample the melt water running through the valley directly from the glacier.

Svalbard

The invasion of Ukraine ended our hopes of being able to ski to the North Pole this year (the logistics needed in order to reach the high latitude Arctic Ocean that we ski on are all operated out of northern Russia and the Ukraine…) so we scrambled to put together a challenging and meaningful last-minute ski expedition in Svalbard that met both our scientific and expedition objectives and fitted within the limitations of having already missed most of the permission deadlines.

Slightly miraculously we pulled off a really great expedition. We skied from Barentsburg to Longyearbyen, experiencing a range of conditions along the way and gathering a really good haul of scientific data including over 80kg of snow, ice and water samples which will be analysed for black carbon by Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj in the US and for microplastics and heavy metals by me at the National Oceanography Centre and University of Southampton in the UK.

Most importantly, we had a really enjoyable time and having visited Svalbard many times over the years, I was extremely grateful to finally have the opportunity to do some skiing at last!

Cairngorm

They've started calling it 'my' curse ... every training big or small I've undertaken for a number of years now has started off with a big storm. Our training trip to Scotland last weekend was no exception. With 70mph gusts predicted, we anchored ourselves well and marvelled at our little tent as it flexed in the wind but stayed miraculously intact. Next morning brought a new problem - all the snow had disappeared! Unwilling to go higher when tougher winds were on the way, we struggled off the mountain dragging our sledges from snow patch to snow patch finding our way across rivers which had become noticeably more significant since the day before with all the melt water....ah well, all good training.

The 'Before It's Gone' North Pole Expedition

Just back from Antarctica

A wonderful trip to the South Shetland Islands, through the Antarctic Sound to the Danger Islands and south along the Antarctic Peninsula as far as Peterman Island onboard National Geographic Explorer speaking for Lindblad Expeditions. We had several days of the most glorious weather during which it was hard to tear myself away from my favourite spots on deck taking photographs - sleep felt like a poor reason to miss out on drinking in such spectacle!

Feeling thankful

So delighted that the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition due to take place in April 2022 has earned the prestigious support of Rolex. The association adds enormously to the credibility of both the scientific and exploration ambitions of our project and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

Training on an Icelandic Glacier

A wild and stormy week of training with the B.I.G. North Pole Expedition team on Vatnajokull in Iceland - Europe’s largest glacier. We spent three of our five days tentbound in high winds but made good use of the time. We managed to complete our planned science training under the guidance of Dr Ulyana Horodyskyj who joined us, as well as preparing tent and travel routines for the expedition across the Arctic Ocean due to take place next April.

Vatnajokull was truly stunning - what a priviledge to be out there at this time of year - and as we were collected from the glacier at the end of our week the vehicles took us to the summit at Grimsvotn for a real treat…a dreamy view accross the Grimsvotn caldera. Complete bliss.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped and supported us throughout the week. If you’d like to see how we got on, you can follow our progress at www.bignorthpole.com

On Channel 4 News

A short film about our Team Umiaq Iceland to Greenland Sailing expedition was broadcast on Channel 4 News and is now available online.

It is a great little film that makes me ever more excited to see the full documentary currently being edited by film-maker Sophia Scott to be screened at COP26 in Glasgow next month…

…I have such good memories of this expedition. Above all, what a priviledge to travel with such an inspiring group of women - miss you all x

Enjoying a new book release

Life Lessons From Explorers: Learn how to weather life’s storms from history’s greatest explorers (Welbeck, 2021)

I'm so proud of this book!

It was released back in July but after some complex logistics I only just got my hands on a physical copy - and it's beautiful! Huge thanks to Isabel Wilkinson at Welbeck Publishing for producing such a lovely thing.

The book was such a joy to work on. The aim was to delve a little deeper into well-known stories to provide a fresh perspective, but also to shine a spotlight on some lesser-known stories that have the ability to be both surprising and thought-provoking.

Some highlights for me were discovering the extraordinary humanity of Neil Armstrong, learning about happiness and simple joy from Agatha Christie, exploring the incredible life of Olaudah Equiano, taking a look at Amelia Earhart's attitude to risk, breaking down the tragic resilience of David Livingstone...and so much more!

It was also an exciting thrill to be able to select some truly inspiring images to accompany the text, from extracts taken from the field notebooks of Gertrude Bell or Charles Darwin, to snapshots of ground-breaking machines that have carried humans to the depths of the oceans and to the edge of space.

In all, I came away with a new stock of memorable quotes, snatches of profound wisdom and, most of all, a renewed belief in the pure brilliance of human beings and the importance of nurturing our inner explorer.

The book is available across the UK in all the usual places (as a hardback) and will be released in the US later this year. If you have a copy, I'm eager to hear what you thought of it...!

Sailing Iceland to Greenland

Like most of the world, I’ve been stunningly stationary for the past 18 months - so it is taking a little time to adjust to the fact that tomorrow I’ll be setting off on my first journey in such a long time, and it’s a fabulous one!

I’ll be setting sail with Joan Mulloy, Irish competitive ocean offshore sailor; Karen Darke, multi-medal winning paralympian and mountaineer; Sophia Scott, film maker and carbon/reclaimed plastic tech visionary and a team of inspiring, positive action focused leaders and achievers to travel from Iceland to Greenland. We’ll be exploring Prins Christian Sund and the channels behind Cape Farewell at the southern tip of Greenland that have only recently become navigable due to the reduction of ice, investigating plastic and other non-organic pollution and looking at some of the stories of environmental change both past and present in Greenland.

Can’t wait!

You can follow our progress via Twitter @TeamUmiaq or by searching for #TeamUmiaq

On Vigur Island

Vigur is a tiny island - just 2km long - in the far northwest corner of Iceland’s Westfjords. To the north of us is the uninhabited peninsula of Hornstrandir, to the west is Greenland.

Despite being just a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle, the island feels busy right now - it is overflowing with a joyful chaos of breeding birds, while the fjord around it has been described as ‘whale soup’ due to the number of mostly humpbacks passing through. We’re getting human visitors too and it has been such a pleasure to guide many of them around the island, sharing Vigur’s wonderful history and heritage as well as its wildlife.

While sharing knowledge of this special place, we’re learning too - from visiting scientists, local experts and from the wildlife itself. Slowly we are discovering what we can improve - for us and our visitors, but most importanly for the birds and seals that call this island home.

...in books!

Too many years ago I enjoyed a brilliant trip to San Francisco to speak at the Women's Travel Fest organised by the indomitable Kelly Lewis. In a crowded food truck park in a backstreet of the city it had taken me hours to find, Kelly asked if she could interview me for a book she was working on. Today, that book gets launched into the world and I can't wait to read it. Congratulations Kelly!

"Tell Her She Can’t: Inspiring Stories of Unstoppable Women" by Kelly Lewis shares the true stories of 35 inspirational women who overcame the naysayers to achieve “impossible” dreams — dreams that other people said they couldn't do. Part travel, part memoir, and part interview compendium, these inspiring women share their stories to help readers transform adversity into a springboard for empowerment and success. Available everywhere books are sold on June 29th, 2021 and online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, or at www.TellHerSheCant.com/book.

I was also very honoured to find myself included in ‘Toksvig’s Almanac: An eclectic meander through the historical year’ by sandi Toksvig - a book that has lengthened to infinity the list of historical women that I need to know more about…and which has alerted me to the fact that there is a proper term for friends that like to meet to chat over cake: ‘muffin-walloper’.

Womenomics Science Award 2021

Grateful thanks to Above & Beyond Group, Tine Arentsen Willumsen and the Womenomics Nordic Business Conference for presenting me with The Womenomics Science Award at a virtual award ceremony live from Copenhagen this morning.

The Womenomics Awards are presented to ‘inspiring female role models who are not only leaders in their respective fields but have also used their voice to inspire and engage others’, so I was very humbled to be recognised in this way. I was particularly touched by the citation which spoke of the impact of ‘passing it forward’, inspiring other women and bridging cultural barriers - aspects of my expeditions which have required much extra effort over the years but of which I am very proud.

“Not only are you, personally, making a difference, but you also act as a role model, inspiring the next generation of young women to step into projects that break boundaries and records in their fields, especially in fields previously dominated by men, such as STEM and exploration.”

— Womenomics Award 2021

Thank you for such wonderful recognition - it is hugely motivating.

I was delighted for the opportunity to share something of the recent Women's Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition with the conference as I accepted the award, as well as the history of dramatic change in the Arctic Ocean - the issue which is driving the forthcoming B.I.G. (Before It's Gone) North Pole Expedition in 2022.

Congratulations to fellow award winners Sofie Linde - a figure at the forefront of the Danish #MeToo movement; and, together, the trio behind Europe's leading financial learning platform, Female Invest; Emma Due Bitz, Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen and Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg. I'm honoured to be in your 2021 cohort.

Mordor

Geldingadalur

The last eruption in Iceland I was lucky enough to see - from a distance. A series of cones opened up to the north of the vast Vatnajokull glacier but along with record-breaking volumes of lava came toxic gas too. Very few people were allowed to get close. We instead drove over Vatnajokull and from a vantage point 25km away looked down on the eruption. We could see the colours of the sky against the green of northern lights, through binos I watched the lava thrown into the air as liquid solidify and fall like a wall of stones - but most memorable of all was the noise. Even from the distance of 25km there was a constant sound of breaking glass, like a heap of ceramics being constantly heaped up by a bulldozer.

This eruprion couldn’t be more different. The crack has opened up just 30km outside Reykjavik and is what the Icelanders call a ‘tourist eruption’ - easy to access, lots of lava, little toxic gas. The site is constantly monitored by the authorities but when everything is ok, visits are allowed. We walked in alongside many others to take a look. What struck me was that there was no sound. Perhaps the wind, the frequent helicopters flying overhead or the crowds hid the noise of the volcano. The second thing was the heat. It was a cold day and at first it was a relief to feel the wafts of warmth coming from the lava. But get too close and it was like hitting a wall of searing heat. It was impossible to withstand it for long. So our visit became a ‘Goldilocks’ mission - not too close, not too far, but find the spot that is just right…

Down with the eiders...

In this month’s Geographical Magazine I was thrilled to see my feature appear about our experiences during our first year at Vigur in the Westfjords (NW Iceland) learning the skills, history and realities of the traditional Icelandic practice of collecting eiderdown from wild eider ducks. It is a wonderfully symbiotic relationship between man and nature for mutual benefit that is almost unique to Iceland and has become part of the cultural fabric.

We continue to have plenty of challenging experiences on Vigur as we prepare for our second season of collecting eiderdown and I look forward to writing more about it !

Here is the link to the article:

https://geographical.co.uk/people/explorers/item/3996-how-polar-explorer-felicity-aston-moved-to-iceland-to-farm-eider-down

And if you would like to know more about Vigur and follow our progress, look for @islandvigur on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or our website: www.vigurisland.com

Finishing lessons...

Today I submitted the last chapter of a book I was commissioned to write about the life lessons we can learn from the lives and stories of history’s greatest explorers. Each of the 15 chapters looks at a different explorer and a different characteristic. Choosing just 15 from the endless list of incredible, inspiring and absorbingly complex explorers throughout history was a tough ask but I think we came up with a great selection - our inclusions range from ancient times to the modern day, from Japan to the Poles, names everyone knows and names that are not so well known (but should be!).

It has been a brilliant project to write and I have really enjoyed the excuse to get to know some of my heroes better - and to gain some new ones. I already miss it and yet spending day after day reading about dedicated and talented overachievers and workaholics has had its challenges too!

The book is already available for pre-order online but is due for publication at the end of the summer by Welbeck…

Enjoying island life...

Iceland is being very kind to us up here in the Westfjords this winter - we may not have as much snow as last year but the storms are short-lived and not-so-bad meaning that we at least have the opportunity to get out and enjoy the snow that is here. AND we’ve been able to see the sky quite a lot, which is a great fortune when the heavens turn green. It is not lost on us how fortunate we are to have such opportunity and space to move around and be outdoors.

Celebrating the first sighting of Antarctica

It has been 200 years since the first sighting of Antarctica. To mark this anniversary - and Antarctica Day - the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust have made a series of three short films as part of their #antarcticainsight programme.

Alongside films featuring ice swimmer Lewis Pugh and photographer Neill Drake, I was delighted to be asked to speak about the inspiration that can be drawn from Antarctica's past to inform our future. It was great to share some memories of my time working for the British Antarctic Survey looking at climate and ozone but also to talk about the Antarctic Treaty which was signed 61 years ago and is a great example of what the human race is capable of when we put our minds to it.

You can see all three films on the UKAHT website along with lots of great content to mark the anniversary.