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Felicity Aston

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Felicity Aston
MBEFRGS
Born(1977-10-07)7 October 1977(age 46)[1]
Birchington-on-Sea,Kent,England
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity College London(BSc) University of Reading(MSc)
AwardsMember of the Order of the British Empire(2015)
Polar medal(2015)
Scientific career
FieldsClimatology
Websitefelicityaston.co.uk

Felicity Ann Dawn AstonMBEFRGS(born 7 October 1977) is a British explorer, author and climate scientist.

Early life and career

[edit]

Originally fromBirchington-on-Sea,Kent,[2]Aston went to Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls and was educated atUniversity College London(BSc) andReading University(MSc in appliedmeteorology).[3]

Between 2000 and 2003, Felicity Aston was the senior meteorologist atRothera Research Stationlocated onAdelaide Islandoff theAntarctic Peninsulaoperated by theBritish Antarctic Survey,monitoring climate and ozone. As was usual at the time for British Antarctic Survey staff, she spent three summers and two winters continuously at the station without leaving the Antarctic.

Exploration and racing

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Aston in Antarctica

In 2005, Aston joined a race acrossArctic Canadato the 1996 position of theNorth Magnetic Pole,known as thePolar Challenge.She was part of the first all-female team to complete this race; they came in 6th place out of 16 teams.[4]

In 2006, Aston was part of the first all-female British expedition across theGreenlandice sheet.[5]

In 2009, she was the team leader of theKaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition,which was aCommonwealth of Nationsexpedition in which seven women from sixCommonwealth member countriesskiedto theSouth Polein 2009 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth.[6][7]Call of the White: Taking the world to the South Poleis her account of this expedition.[8]It was published bySummersdalein 2011 and was a finalist in theBanff Mountain Book Competitionin that year.[9]

In 2012, she became the first person to ski alone across theAntarcticland-mass using only personal muscle power, as well as the first woman to cross the Antarctic land-mass alone.[10][11]Her journey began on 25 November 2011, at theLeverett Glacier,and continued for 59 days and a distance of 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometres).[12]She had two supply drops.[12]She said, "The fact that I had crossed Antartica. despite the tears and the fear and the alone-ness, deepened my belief that we are each far more capable than we give ourselves credit for. Our bodies are stronger and our minds more resilient than we could ever imagine."[13]

In 2014, Aston led an all-women team in the B.I.G - Before It's Gone - North Pole Expedition toDrangajökull,the northernmost glacier inIceland.There her team completed a ski traverse of the glacier and collected surface snow and ice samples, to be analyzed for the presence ofmicroplastics,black carbonandheavy metals.Her work is also contributing to the study of human psychology under extreme conditions.[14]

In 2018 she led an all-women EuroArabian expedition to the North Pole, which included the mountaineerAsma Al Thani,who became the first Qatari person to ski there.[15]

Aston has also walked across the ice ofLake Baikal,the world's deepest and oldest lake, and completed theMarathon des Sables.[4][16]As of July 2020,she has started preparing for a B.I.G (Before It's Gone) North Pole 2022 expedition, with five other women, to research Arctic sea ice.[17][18]

Positions and awards

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She is an official ambassador for both theBritish Antarctic Monument Trust[19]and the Equaladventure charity,[20]and was awarded an honorary doctorate byCanterbury Christ Church Universityfor her exploration achievements.[21]She is aFellow of the Royal Geographical SocietyandThe Explorers Club.[22]In 2016 she co-presented a television history programme series about the 1898Klondyke Gold Rush.[23]Her photo-portrait byAnita Corbinwas one of the100 First WomenPortraits at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery,Exeter.[24]

Aston was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire(MBE),[25]and awarded thePolar Medalin the 2015 New Year Honours for services to polar exploration.[26][27][28]

Personal life

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She lives in Iceland and farmseider duckson an island in the ArcticWestfjords,is married and has a son.[29]

References

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  1. ^WingsWorldQuest biography
  2. ^Booth, Robert (23 January 2012)."Briton Felicity Aston becomes first to manually ski solo across Antarctica".The Guardian.Retrieved12 May2016.
  3. ^SoapboxScience, Alex Jackson and."An Intrepid Look at Winter with Climate Scientist and Adventurer Felicity Aston".Scientific American Blog Network.Retrieved12 May2016.
  4. ^ab"Felicity Aston Antarctic Scientist and Polar Explorer".Spellbound Talks. 29 December 2009. Archived fromthe originalon 13 February 2012.Retrieved28 January2012.
  5. ^"The Arctic Circle".BBC Radio 4.Retrieved28 January2012.
  6. ^"Sept femmes arrivent au Pôle Sud après un trek de 900 km"[Seven women arrive at South Pole after trek of 900 km].Nouvel Observateur(in French). 31 December 2009.Retrieved28 January2012.[permanent dead link]
  7. ^Burgess, Kelly (13 December 2009)."Women complete 562-mile ski journey to South Pole".Los Angeles Times.Retrieved28 January2012.
  8. ^Aston, Felicity (2011).Call of the white: taking the world to the South Pole: eight women, one unique expedition.Chichester: Summersdale Publishers Ltd.ISBN978-1-84839-463-6.OCLC808343782.
  9. ^"2011 BANFF MOUNTAIN BOOK COMPETITION -FINALISTS".Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival.2011.Retrieved13 August2021.
  10. ^Warren, Michael (23 January 2012)."First woman to cross Antarctica solo sets two records".The Globe and Mail.Archived fromthe originalon 27 January 2012.Retrieved28 January2012.
  11. ^"First female to ski solo across Antarctica".Guinness World Records.23 January 2012.Retrieved13 August2021.
  12. ^ab"British adventurer Felicity Aston caps first ski crossing of Antarctica by woman".ESPN.Associated Press.23 January 2012.Retrieved28 January2012.
  13. ^Frostrup, Mariella (2019). "Alone in Antartica".Wild women and their Amazing Adventures over Land, Sea and Air.London: Anima. p. 92.ISBN978-1-78854-000-1.OCLC1193412895.
  14. ^"Expedition: The B.I.G - Before It's Gone - North Pole Expedition (Iceland)"(PDF).WINGS WORLDQUEST.
  15. ^"Sheikha Asma al-Thani becomes first Qatari to ski to North Pole".Gulf-Times(in Arabic). 29 April 2018.Retrieved6 January2022.
  16. ^Lab, Adventure (13 December 2011)."Expedition Watch: Felicity Aston's Solo Crossing of Antarctica".The Outside Blog.Retrieved28 January2012.
  17. ^@NatGeoUK (2 July 2020)."Why we travel: Felicity Aston on the power of polar regions to teach vital conservation lessons".National Geographic.Retrieved13 August2021.
  18. ^"The B.I.G North Pole 2022 Expedition: In Conversation With Felicity Aston, MBE".whitefeatherfoundation.com.24 June 2021.Retrieved13 August2021.
  19. ^"British Antarctic Monument Trust – Ambassadors".antarctic-monument.org. Archived fromthe originalon 5 May 2016.Retrieved11 May2016.
  20. ^"Equal Adventure".Retrieved10 May2016.
  21. ^"First woman to ski across Antarctica alone awarded Honorary Doctorate".canterbury.ac.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 13 May 2016.Retrieved12 May2016.
  22. ^"Felicity Aston MBE – Keynote Speaker".London Speaker Bureau.Retrieved13 August2021.
  23. ^"Felicity Aston".The Proust Nature Questionnaire.29 June 2018.Retrieved13 August2021.
  24. ^"Q&A with Felicity Aston MBE, British polar explorer".VASW.Retrieved13 August2021.
  25. ^"Antarctic explorer honoured by Queen".Kent Online.Retrieved29 September2017.
  26. ^"No. 61092".The London Gazette(Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N16.
  27. ^2015 New Year Honours ListArchived2 January 2015 at theWayback Machine
  28. ^"Felicity Aston appointed MBE and awarded Polar Medal".antarctic-monument.org.Retrieved12 May2016.
  29. ^Aston, Felicity."A new life in Iceland farming nature's warmest material - Geographical Magazine".geographical.co.uk.Archived fromthe originalon 14 June 2021.Retrieved13 August2021.
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