FELICITY ASTON MBE

A polar explorer and former meteorologist for the British Antarctic Survey, Felicity Aston is a champion of adventure in the world’s iciest hinterlands. In 2012 she became the first and only woman in the world to have skied across Antarctica alone. The 1,083-mile journey also made her the first person to have traversed the continent purely by muscle power, earning her a place in the Guinness World Records book. She has led several other notable expeditions, including the first all-female British crossing of Greenland and the 38-day, 5,660-mile Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition in 2009 — the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. In 2015 she was awarded the Polar Medal by HM The Queen — one of very few women to have received this honour — and was appointed MBE for services to polar exploration.

Felicity divides her time between her native UK and Reykjavik. She sees beauty and bounty in frozen backwaters widely regarded as barren and bleak, writing lyrically of Antarctic phenomena including parhelion (mock sun) and circular rainbows. Material from her

Pole of Cold expedition has been developed into a travelling art exhibition. Felicity sees life where many don’t, notably amid the preserved prehistoric creatures at Fossil Bluff, on Antarctica’s Alexander Island. Recent expeditions have taken her and all-women teams to the South Pole and the Zanskar Gorge in northern India.

Felicity has been hailed as “resilient, brave, daring, foolhardy, admirable and hugely likeable” by Joanna Lumley — and we couldn’t agree more. We’re proud to announce Felicity Aston as the recipient of National Geographic Traveller’s Special Contribution to Travel.