Starred review from August 22, 2022
Polar explorer Aston (Life Lessons) recounts in this vivid account the 2018 Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition, a trek she did with 10 women from different countries. Aston elaborates on how she selected and trained her team, some of whom had never skied or experienced intense cold before: her goal, she writes, was to “develop a better understanding of the values and perspectives of women from different cultures.” What sets the book apart is the enriching firsthand accounts from the team members interspersed throughout: “I am an introvert,” writes Olga, a mountaineer from Russia, “so the thought of living so closely with ten women from different countries on this expedition made me anxious.” Their accounts cover the life-threatening weather the team faced (“A storm like this can destroy confidence just as it destroys tents,” writes Steph from Cyprus), treacherous turns of fate (“I smiled as I approached the ground, thinking that if this was it, then there would be no problems at all.... Ten minutes later my eyelashes were covered in ice and my eyelids had frozen together. I had my first moment of panic,” writes Nataša, a Slovenian journalist), and finally the joy of arriving at the Pole. The result is a page-turning tale of adventure. Photos.
November 1, 2022
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. VERDICT Recommended for adventuresome readers.--Elizabeth Connor
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