Felicity Aston

Felicity Ann Dawn Aston MBE is a British adventurer and climate scientist.

Between 2000 and 2003 Felicity Aston was the Senior Meteorologist at Rothera Research Station located on Adelaide Island off the Antarctic Peninsula operated by the British Antarctic Survey. As was usual at the time for British Antarctic Survey staff, she spent 3 summers and 2 winters continuously at the station without leaving Antarctica.

In 2005 she joined a race across Arctic Canada to the 1996 position of the North Magnetic Pole, known as the Polar Challenge. She was part of the first all-female team to complete this race; they came in 6th place out of 16 teams. ^[1]

In 2006 Aston was part of the first all-female British expedition across the Greenland ice sheet.^[2]

In 2009 she was the team leader of the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, which was a Commonwealth of Nations expedition in which seven women from six Commonwealth member countries skied to the South Pole in 2009 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth.^[3][4] "Call of the White: Taking the world to the South Pole" is her account of this expedition. It was published by Summers dale in 2011 and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition in that year.

In 2012 she became the first person to ski alone across Antarctica using only personal muscle power, as well as the first woman to cross Antarctica alone.^[5][6] Her journey began on 25 November, 2011, at the Leverett Glacier, and continued for 59 days and a distance of 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers).^[7] She had two supply drops.^[7]

Aston has also walked across the ice of Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and oldest lake, and completed the Marathon des Sables.^[1][8]

She is an official ambassador for the British Antarctic Monument Trust ^[9] and the Equaladventure charity.^[10]

Aston was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to polar exploration.^[11][12]

References

1. "Felicity Aston Antarctic Scientist and Polar Explorer". Spellbound Talks. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
2. "The Arctic Circle". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
3. "Sept femmes arrivent au Pôle Sud après un trek de 900 km", Nouvel Observateur, December 31, 2009
4. "Women complete 562-mile ski journey to South Pole", Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2009
5. "Long Day's Journey into White | Adventure". Reader's Digest Asia. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
6. Michael Warren. "First woman to cross Antarctica solo sets two records". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
7. "British adventurer Felicity Aston caps first ski crossing of Antarctica by woman". ESPN. 2012-01-23. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
8. Lab, Adventure (2011-12-13). "Expedition Watch: Felicity Aston's Solo Crossing of Antarctica". The Outside Blog. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
9. British Antarctic Monument Trust
11. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 61092. p. N16. 31 December 2014.
12. 2015 New Year Honours List