Polar Exposure: An All-Women’s Expedition to the North Pole

This gripping and uplifting book recounts British polar explorer Aston’s all-women ski expedition to the North Pole. The team of adventurers (including a marine biologist, a graphic designer, a sports reporter, and a mountaineering instructor) from Cyprus, England, France, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, and Sweden were joined by an all-women film crew and experienced women Arctic guides. Each participant was assessed for English language skills, health, fitness, and swimming ability, and they needed internet access, a passport, and visas. The team practiced group skiing on an Icelandic glacier and Oman’s Wahiba Sands, an equally unforgiving desert climate. They also tested equipment in Norway before helicoptering from Camp Barneo, in Russia, to about 50 miles from the geographic North Pole. The work features first-person accounts from the participants that reveal their doubts and trepidations as they traversed the dangerous, unknown, and unmappable environs of the Arctic. Challenges included equipment issues, physiologic monitoring, polar bear watches, and a medical evacuation for frostbite. The book includes gorgeous full-color photographs and a timeline.