Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole

Description

Eight Women, One Unique Expedition Could YOU ski to the South Pole? That was the challenge that British adventurer Felicity Aston put to women from around the Commonwealth, as she set out to create the most international all-female expedition ever to the Pole. The team would not be experienced explorers but 'ordinary' women who wanted to inspire others to follow their dreams. She received more than 800 applications. 'What is skiing?' asked someone in Ghana. At the close of 2009, Felicity led a team from places as diverse as Jamaica, India, Singapore and Cyprus some of whom had never even seen snow or spent the night in a tent before joining the expedition on one of the toughest journeys on the planet. Eighty-mile-an-hour winds ripped through base camp; frostbite and injuries were an everyday occurrence; deadly crevasses cracked beneath their feet. But they also shared beliefs, ideas, philosophies and laughter. AUTHOR: Felicity Aston, 33, is a British expedition leader, public speaker and freelance travel writer from Kent. Her past achievements include leading the first British women's team across Greenland, completing the infamous Marathon Des Sables across the Sahara, as well as working as a meteorologist in the Antarctic for three years. SELLING POINTS: The record breaking expedition was the subject of more than 350 articles in over 20 countries, and was featured on national radio and television around the world, including BBC Breakfast News, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and NBC's Today Show in America

Felicity Aston has spent over a decade travelling, working and living all over the Polar Regions. In 2009 she led the most international team of women ever to ski to the South Pole; this became the subject of her first book, Call of the White, a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition in 2011. Outside Magazine, the leading adventure-travel magazine in the US, named her one of their 2012 Adventurers of the Year.

'... author Felicity Aston describes how she led an expedition of "ordinary women" from all over the world - including some who had never seen snow - on one of the world's toughest journeys, skiing to the South Pole. The results: frostbite, injuries, hardships - and also newfound persistence, strength, and friendship.' * Publishers Weekly (USA) *