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Alone in Antarctica
In the whirling noise of our advancing technological age, we are seemingly never alone, never out-of-touch with the barrage of electronic data and information.
Felicity Aston, physicist and meteorologist, took two months off from all human contact as she became the first woman -- and only the third person in history – to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. She did it, too, with the simple apparatus of cross-country, without the aids used by her prededecessors – two Norwegian men – each of whom employed either parasails or kites.
Aston’s journey across the ice at the bottom of the world asked of her the extremes in terms of mental and physical bravery, as she faced the risks of unseen cracks buried in the snow so large they might engulf her and hypothermia due to brutalizing weather. She had to deal, too, with her emotional vulnerability in face of the constant bombardment of hallucinations brought on by the vast sea of whiteness, the lack of stimulation to her senses as she faced what is tantamount to a form of solitary confinement.
Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Felicity Aston’s Alone in Antarctica becomes an inspirational saga of one woman’s battle through fear and loneliness as she honestly confronts both the physical challenges of her adventure, as well as her own human vulnerabilities.
Felicity Aston, physicist and meteorologist, took two months off from all human contact as she became the first woman -- and only the third person in history – to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. She did it, too, with the simple apparatus of cross-country, without the aids used by her prededecessors – two Norwegian men – each of whom employed either parasails or kites.
Aston’s journey across the ice at the bottom of the world asked of her the extremes in terms of mental and physical bravery, as she faced the risks of unseen cracks buried in the snow so large they might engulf her and hypothermia due to brutalizing weather. She had to deal, too, with her emotional vulnerability in face of the constant bombardment of hallucinations brought on by the vast sea of whiteness, the lack of stimulation to her senses as she faced what is tantamount to a form of solitary confinement.
Like Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, Felicity Aston’s Alone in Antarctica becomes an inspirational saga of one woman’s battle through fear and loneliness as she honestly confronts both the physical challenges of her adventure, as well as her own human vulnerabilities.
250 pages, Paperback
First published July 28, 2013
56 people are currently reading
1197 people want to read
About the author
Felicity Aston
10 books18 followersFelicity Aston, is the first and only woman in the world to ski across Antarctica alone. She completed the 1084-mile, 59-day journey in January 2012 and wrote a book about her experiences; 'Alone in Antarctica' published by Summersdale.
In 2009 Felicity led the 38-day, 600-mile Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. The team included women from Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore and New Zealand. Felicity was responsible for selecting, training and leading this diverse, multicultural team of ‘ordinary’ women for one of the most arduous journeys on Earth. Her book about the expedition, ‘Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole’ was published in March 2011 and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition that year.
Previously, Felicity has led several other notable expeditions including the first British women’s crossing of Greenland, a 450-mile winter crossing of Lake Baikal in Siberia and an adventurous expedition in Iceland for young people with a brain injury. She was also part of the first, ever, all-female team to complete the Polar Challenge, a 350-mile endurance race to the magnetic north pole and has completed the notorious Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile foot race across the Sahara.
Trained as a Physicist and Meteorologist, Felicity’s first polar experience was as a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. Based for three years on a remote research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, her job was to monitor climate and ozone.
Felicity
In 2009 Felicity led the 38-day, 600-mile Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition, the largest and most international women’s team ever to ski to the South Pole. The team included women from Brunei Darussalam, Cyprus, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Singapore and New Zealand. Felicity was responsible for selecting, training and leading this diverse, multicultural team of ‘ordinary’ women for one of the most arduous journeys on Earth. Her book about the expedition, ‘Call of the White: Taking the World to the South Pole’ was published in March 2011 and was a finalist in the Banff Mountain Book Competition that year.
Previously, Felicity has led several other notable expeditions including the first British women’s crossing of Greenland, a 450-mile winter crossing of Lake Baikal in Siberia and an adventurous expedition in Iceland for young people with a brain injury. She was also part of the first, ever, all-female team to complete the Polar Challenge, a 350-mile endurance race to the magnetic north pole and has completed the notorious Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile foot race across the Sahara.
Trained as a Physicist and Meteorologist, Felicity’s first polar experience was as a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey. Based for three years on a remote research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, her job was to monitor climate and ozone.
Felicity
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
June 19, 2014
DNF at page 75.
I can cope no longer with the ghastly over-sentimentality and amateur dramatics and the seemingly constant references to silence and bloating and nausea.
AND --- THERE IS NO MAP in this book! WTF!!
And there is no index either but - there ARE pages of writing such as:
'hanging gardens of snow blocks'
'my fragile sense of well-being'
'continued to swim into wind past my aquarium of mountains'..(wtf??)
'physical pall of loneliness'
'it wasn't smooth but covered in a web of corrugations, reminding me of an organism under a microscope.'
'the silence crept back in, like water collecting in rock pools as the tide returns.'
'I nodded emphatically, my eyes wide in a caricature of the alarm I had felt as we had flown over them.'
'My stomach felt bloated with nerves..'
'I was now revisted by the recognisable pall of loneliness. The nausea returned too..'
'With a heavy weight of dread in my stomach...'
'Panic screamed though my mind like a beacon bleeping out an alert message over and over.'
I was hoping for a solid, well-written day to day account of an Antarctic trek, complete with maps, conditions, equipment etc.
This most certainly is not one.
I can cope no longer with the ghastly over-sentimentality and amateur dramatics and the seemingly constant references to silence and bloating and nausea.
AND --- THERE IS NO MAP in this book! WTF!!
And there is no index either but - there ARE pages of writing such as:
'hanging gardens of snow blocks'
'my fragile sense of well-being'
'continued to swim into wind past my aquarium of mountains'..(wtf??)
'physical pall of loneliness'
'it wasn't smooth but covered in a web of corrugations, reminding me of an organism under a microscope.'
'the silence crept back in, like water collecting in rock pools as the tide returns.'
'I nodded emphatically, my eyes wide in a caricature of the alarm I had felt as we had flown over them.'
'My stomach felt bloated with nerves..'
'I was now revisted by the recognisable pall of loneliness. The nausea returned too..'
'With a heavy weight of dread in my stomach...'
'Panic screamed though my mind like a beacon bleeping out an alert message over and over.'
I was hoping for a solid, well-written day to day account of an Antarctic trek, complete with maps, conditions, equipment etc.
This most certainly is not one.
July 29, 2017
Favorite quote: "It was clear to me that the success of my expedition had not depended on physical strength or dramatic acts of braver but on the fact that at least some progress -however small- had been made every single day. It had not been about glorious heroism but the humblest of qualities, a quality that perhaps we all too often fail to appreciate for its worth - that of perseverance." pg 239
March 11, 2018
This book impressed me with the author’s descriptions of the landscape and her experiences. Many times I found myself pausing to read a phrase over again just because it was so pretty or clever. She captures the severity of her extreme task and the challenges she faced in a way that draws you in and makes you self reflect. Her relationship with the sun is very charming.
November 9, 2021
I just recently got bit by the Antarctica bug, and this book seemed like it would be a good modern take on the adventure narrative I was looking for. But not only was there not much adventure to speak of (lots of wind and crying, basically), it also unintentionally shattered my illusions about polar exploration in general.
Like many other reviewers, I too was baffled by the strange lack of a map in this book. It seemed inexplicable to write a whole book about a supposed record based on geography and not include a map. Aston claims to be the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica. But most readers don't have any conception of what shape or size Antarctica is, or where the major landmarks are, so a visual aid would have been immensely helpful. It was such a strange omission that I started wondering about what possible reason Aston and/or the publishers could have had for leaving it out.
At the same time, I started wondering how, without kites or sails or vehicles of any kind, Aston could have gone "across the whole continent" in only 59 days. Antarctica is HUGE. Like, it's the size of the United States and Mexico COMBINED. Is it really feasible that someone could ski across the U.S. and Mexico in 59 days using nothing but their leg muscles? The sheer size of the continent, combined with the glaring omission of a map, made me more and more skeptical. I decided to do some digging.
Well, to put it bluntly, Aston lied. You could maybe phrase it more politely and say that she was disingenuous or selective in how she described her journey, but the simple fact is that when she says she "crossed the entire continent," she is not telling the truth. When the average layperson hears that someone “crossed the continent,” they imagine someone going from the north coast to the south coast, or the west coast to the east coast (or vice versa). But that isn’t even close to what Aston did. This article (https://explorersweb.com/2019/01/09/c...) explains the issue thoroughly and is a very interesting read if you’re at all interested in Antarctica stuff – but be prepared to have some illusions smashed. Scroll down to the third map to see the route Aston actually took.
It looks like a tiny V-shape from one seemingly arbitrary starting point, onward to the South Pole in the middle, and finally ending up at another seemingly arbitrary point. Neither her starting point nor her ending point were on the coast, despite her explicitly claiming such in the book. In fact, her route covered a depressingly miniscule portion of the landmass. There is no way of expressing the concept of "across the entire continent" that would make sense of the tiny V-shape she made. And the rationale for those starting and ending points is not geography – it’s simply the most convenient spot for a plane to drop her off and pick her up.
And this is why she chose not to include a map in her book. It would make her lie very obvious.
I want to stress that Aston is by no means the only polar explorer engaging in this sort of deception. In fact, it seems to be the norm now. I guess they're banking on the general public's lack of knowledge about Antarctica, and it's working. Even major news outlets like the New York Times take the PR hype at face value and report on these claims without going to the trouble of verifying that a particular route did indeed go across the continent (which, admittedly, is hard to verify when all these polar athletes are deliberately vague on the details).
I also want to stress that I am still immensely impressed by Aston’s, and all polar explorers’, feats of endurance and physical and psychological strength. Even setting foot in Antarctica is an accomplishment, and spending two months skiing around it is, obviously, no walk in the park. These folks should by all means be proud of their athleticism and fortitude. What I take issue with is the blatant deception about going across the continent.
As far as the writing itself, Aston is clearly more of a doer than a writer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, or even very surprising given the subject matter, but you get the sense that she is straining everything she has to find new ways to describe her solitude (or “alone-ness” as she insists on awkwardly calling it) in ever more poetic and dramatic language. Some of her descriptions are lovely, and the rare insights she offers into her routine, food, hygiene, equipment, etc. are very interesting. I wanted more details about that stuff, and a bit less navel-gazing: I wanted to know mundane stuff, like how she charged her mp3 player (solar panels? battery packs?), how she went #2 in areas other than the no-poo radius around the South Pole (did she bury it in the snow?), how she managed to sleep with constant sunlight, how the smell of her own unwashed body and clothes for two months didn’t gross her out, what kinds of first aid she brought with her (she mentions using ibuprofen and antibiotic cream at one point, but nothing else), why the water in her water bottle didn't automatically freeze, what she ate – seriously, she writes a book about two months in the Antarctic, and the only mention of food we get is chocolate, coffee, and some spaghetti that she ate for breakfast one morning?? – and tons of other details I would have liked to know.
I had another complaint, which, while very trivial on the surface, jolted me out of the narrative every time and opened a tiny crack into the mega-capitalist enterprise that is polar exploration. Whenever she mentioned her tent for any reason, she referred to it by its brand name. This isn’t like people saying “Kleenex” when they mean “tissue,” because the brand of this tent is not a household term. Rather, it felt like a corporate shill holding up their Coke can so the label is visible for the cameras and saying, “I sure do love my Coca-ColaTM soft drink!” I’m guessing Aston had cut some kind of deal with the company that made her tent that stipulated they would give her the tent for free if she made sure to mention it by name in her book and always take photos of it with the sponsor name visible on the side.
The corporate nature of her undertaking is underscored by the lack of real danger at any point along her journey. Yes, there were definitely moments when she had to muster all of her skill and experience to avoid an accident. And I’m not saying anyone could do what she did. But it also wasn’t as much of a risk as she made it out to be. She always had a GPS and satellite phone with her, and for half of her journey she was traveling along a major transport road that was marked with flags, minimizing the risk of getting lost and relieving the burden of navigation. She insisted that her phone wouldn’t have been much help in a true emergency, but I’m doubtful about how honest that is. She was never low on food or experienced hunger (she was even given a fresh apricot at the South Pole as a gift and later received some homemade cookies). She never got hurt. She never got seriously lost. She only mentioned feeling uncomfortably cold a couple of times. The weather was mostly good. She was making posts on Twitter every night, for god’s sake.
And there was also no pretense at scientific discovery or adding to the store of human knowledge. She wasn't "exploring" in the sense of going into unknown areas — in fact, she was sticking to the most well-trod portions of the continent (this became really apparent on two or three occasions when she ran into other random groups of travelers). It really was just a personal quest, with a lot of self-promotion and artificial safety nets along the way. It’s basically polar NASCAR, complete with logos splashed on everything. Yes, people do get injured and occasionally die in both NASCAR races and polar feats of endurance, but in both cases there are insane amounts of cash spent on high-tech gear designed to prevent all but the most minor inconveniences — as well as a hell of a lot of privilege baked into the entire enterprise.
If you like Antarctica and want a rip-roaring yarn, I recommend Endurance by Alfred Lansing, which covers Shackleton’s journey. I think at this point the only way to get the true polar spirit of adventure from your armchair is by reading about the historic explorers. The modern ones, including Aston, are basically just completing vanity projects and most of them are exaggerating their accomplishments, if not outright lying.
Like many other reviewers, I too was baffled by the strange lack of a map in this book. It seemed inexplicable to write a whole book about a supposed record based on geography and not include a map. Aston claims to be the first woman to ski solo across Antarctica. But most readers don't have any conception of what shape or size Antarctica is, or where the major landmarks are, so a visual aid would have been immensely helpful. It was such a strange omission that I started wondering about what possible reason Aston and/or the publishers could have had for leaving it out.
At the same time, I started wondering how, without kites or sails or vehicles of any kind, Aston could have gone "across the whole continent" in only 59 days. Antarctica is HUGE. Like, it's the size of the United States and Mexico COMBINED. Is it really feasible that someone could ski across the U.S. and Mexico in 59 days using nothing but their leg muscles? The sheer size of the continent, combined with the glaring omission of a map, made me more and more skeptical. I decided to do some digging.
Well, to put it bluntly, Aston lied. You could maybe phrase it more politely and say that she was disingenuous or selective in how she described her journey, but the simple fact is that when she says she "crossed the entire continent," she is not telling the truth. When the average layperson hears that someone “crossed the continent,” they imagine someone going from the north coast to the south coast, or the west coast to the east coast (or vice versa). But that isn’t even close to what Aston did. This article (https://explorersweb.com/2019/01/09/c...) explains the issue thoroughly and is a very interesting read if you’re at all interested in Antarctica stuff – but be prepared to have some illusions smashed. Scroll down to the third map to see the route Aston actually took.
It looks like a tiny V-shape from one seemingly arbitrary starting point, onward to the South Pole in the middle, and finally ending up at another seemingly arbitrary point. Neither her starting point nor her ending point were on the coast, despite her explicitly claiming such in the book. In fact, her route covered a depressingly miniscule portion of the landmass. There is no way of expressing the concept of "across the entire continent" that would make sense of the tiny V-shape she made. And the rationale for those starting and ending points is not geography – it’s simply the most convenient spot for a plane to drop her off and pick her up.
And this is why she chose not to include a map in her book. It would make her lie very obvious.
I want to stress that Aston is by no means the only polar explorer engaging in this sort of deception. In fact, it seems to be the norm now. I guess they're banking on the general public's lack of knowledge about Antarctica, and it's working. Even major news outlets like the New York Times take the PR hype at face value and report on these claims without going to the trouble of verifying that a particular route did indeed go across the continent (which, admittedly, is hard to verify when all these polar athletes are deliberately vague on the details).
I also want to stress that I am still immensely impressed by Aston’s, and all polar explorers’, feats of endurance and physical and psychological strength. Even setting foot in Antarctica is an accomplishment, and spending two months skiing around it is, obviously, no walk in the park. These folks should by all means be proud of their athleticism and fortitude. What I take issue with is the blatant deception about going across the continent.
As far as the writing itself, Aston is clearly more of a doer than a writer. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, or even very surprising given the subject matter, but you get the sense that she is straining everything she has to find new ways to describe her solitude (or “alone-ness” as she insists on awkwardly calling it) in ever more poetic and dramatic language. Some of her descriptions are lovely, and the rare insights she offers into her routine, food, hygiene, equipment, etc. are very interesting. I wanted more details about that stuff, and a bit less navel-gazing: I wanted to know mundane stuff, like how she charged her mp3 player (solar panels? battery packs?), how she went #2 in areas other than the no-poo radius around the South Pole (did she bury it in the snow?), how she managed to sleep with constant sunlight, how the smell of her own unwashed body and clothes for two months didn’t gross her out, what kinds of first aid she brought with her (she mentions using ibuprofen and antibiotic cream at one point, but nothing else), why the water in her water bottle didn't automatically freeze, what she ate – seriously, she writes a book about two months in the Antarctic, and the only mention of food we get is chocolate, coffee, and some spaghetti that she ate for breakfast one morning?? – and tons of other details I would have liked to know.
I had another complaint, which, while very trivial on the surface, jolted me out of the narrative every time and opened a tiny crack into the mega-capitalist enterprise that is polar exploration. Whenever she mentioned her tent for any reason, she referred to it by its brand name. This isn’t like people saying “Kleenex” when they mean “tissue,” because the brand of this tent is not a household term. Rather, it felt like a corporate shill holding up their Coke can so the label is visible for the cameras and saying, “I sure do love my Coca-ColaTM soft drink!” I’m guessing Aston had cut some kind of deal with the company that made her tent that stipulated they would give her the tent for free if she made sure to mention it by name in her book and always take photos of it with the sponsor name visible on the side.
The corporate nature of her undertaking is underscored by the lack of real danger at any point along her journey. Yes, there were definitely moments when she had to muster all of her skill and experience to avoid an accident. And I’m not saying anyone could do what she did. But it also wasn’t as much of a risk as she made it out to be. She always had a GPS and satellite phone with her, and for half of her journey she was traveling along a major transport road that was marked with flags, minimizing the risk of getting lost and relieving the burden of navigation. She insisted that her phone wouldn’t have been much help in a true emergency, but I’m doubtful about how honest that is. She was never low on food or experienced hunger (she was even given a fresh apricot at the South Pole as a gift and later received some homemade cookies). She never got hurt. She never got seriously lost. She only mentioned feeling uncomfortably cold a couple of times. The weather was mostly good. She was making posts on Twitter every night, for god’s sake.
And there was also no pretense at scientific discovery or adding to the store of human knowledge. She wasn't "exploring" in the sense of going into unknown areas — in fact, she was sticking to the most well-trod portions of the continent (this became really apparent on two or three occasions when she ran into other random groups of travelers). It really was just a personal quest, with a lot of self-promotion and artificial safety nets along the way. It’s basically polar NASCAR, complete with logos splashed on everything. Yes, people do get injured and occasionally die in both NASCAR races and polar feats of endurance, but in both cases there are insane amounts of cash spent on high-tech gear designed to prevent all but the most minor inconveniences — as well as a hell of a lot of privilege baked into the entire enterprise.
If you like Antarctica and want a rip-roaring yarn, I recommend Endurance by Alfred Lansing, which covers Shackleton’s journey. I think at this point the only way to get the true polar spirit of adventure from your armchair is by reading about the historic explorers. The modern ones, including Aston, are basically just completing vanity projects and most of them are exaggerating their accomplishments, if not outright lying.
January 8, 2023
Obviously what Felicity Aston has accomplished is incredibly admirable. However, this book could have probably been significantly shorter, as the notions of ‘alone-ness’ and snow and ice got laborious after a while (I guess not as laborious as it would have been for her lol). Despite being a rather short book, it took me much longer than anticipated to get through. I needed more pictures that could have been dotted throughout, not just a cluster in the middle- she mentioned taking pictures or pictures from her childhood multiple times and it was disappointing to not see them. Also the absence of any kind of map was strange since the description of the route was so thorough along the way but impossible to visualise (since your average reader has probably never been to Antarctica). Overall, an interesting read with some genuinely interesting facts throughout (the detail of the no poo and no pee zones around the South Pole was humorous as well as informative). And of course being the first woman to ski across Antarctica alone is no small feat!
March 2, 2020
I absolutely loved this book! Different from other Antarctic travelogues as it examined the author's mental hardships during this lone journey, rather than just the physical ones. Beautifully written!
April 23, 2022
This is an incredible story and it is nicely written, but it also left me wanting more (and sometimes less). Felicity Aston's feat of crossing Antarctica on skis, by herself, is undoubtedly impressive. It was an enriching experience to read a first-hand report of such an extreme experience. Additionally, I learnt about crevasses, sastrugi, a silver ball at the south pole, and a no-poo zone.
Nevertheless, descriptions sometimes fell a bit flat and started to feel repetitive (though I can hardly blame the author for the latter in this context). At the same time, things that would have interested me were failing (e.g., more practical and technical challenges, environmental or geological insights), and even the included pictures could not really remedy this (why no clear picture of the sastrugi or the sleds?). One of the things I missed most was a map to visualise Felicity Aston's journey. I found myself googling many things that could easily have been included.
The core theme of the book, the "alone-ness", is discussed a lot, but, for me personally, Felicity Aston's account did not really lead to much new insight on the topic , besides the notion that the indication of previous human presence (if not current) makes a difference.
Despite its shortcomings, it is a good book: an interesting first-hand account of traversing Antarctica with a mental preparation based on seemingly simple principles such as the power of habits, and "one step at a time".
Nevertheless, descriptions sometimes fell a bit flat and started to feel repetitive (though I can hardly blame the author for the latter in this context). At the same time, things that would have interested me were failing (e.g., more practical and technical challenges, environmental or geological insights), and even the included pictures could not really remedy this (why no clear picture of the sastrugi or the sleds?). One of the things I missed most was a map to visualise Felicity Aston's journey. I found myself googling many things that could easily have been included.
The core theme of the book, the "alone-ness", is discussed a lot, but, for me personally, Felicity Aston's account did not really lead to much new insight on the topic , besides the notion that the indication of previous human presence (if not current) makes a difference.
Despite its shortcomings, it is a good book: an interesting first-hand account of traversing Antarctica with a mental preparation based on seemingly simple principles such as the power of habits, and "one step at a time".
February 8, 2019
I read this as part of my 2019 Reading Women Challenge; it fulfilled the category of "a book about a woman athlete." This is Felicity Aston's book recounting her remarkable journey to become the first person to do a solo cross-country ski across the continent of Antarctica. It is at times quite harrowing and endlessly fascinating. The setting itself is the main character of the book, and she does an excellent job describing what it was like. I was left in awe of her mental fortitude, as this was not only an astounding physical task, but a nearly impossible mental challenge as well.
February 4, 2021
I loved this read. I've long wanted to go to Antarctica (and now know I don't want to ski across solo, haha!), and so appreciated Aston's story. It brought the continent, its weather conditions, and general human activity there to life in vivid vibrancy. Introvert that I am, the idea of being alone for so long sounds lovely--and yet, Aston shows the very real limits of aloneness and isolation. Definitely some food for thought!
November 6, 2018
Read as the first book in our block's new book club. Adventuring books are low on my 'like' list--Wild being one of my least favorite books of all time. This was better--at least Aston was experienced and prepared. The book starts out slowly, but gets better toward the end. She is slow to share the technical aspects of the journey that are of interest--how do you go to the bathroom, who funded this whole thing, etc. As the title states, the focus is on her being alone and what effect that has on her psyche. I don't really understand the point of journeys like hers (a lot of money that wasn't hers is spent on something that doesn't advance science or help other people and indeed puts others at risk were they to need to attempt to rescue her), so that colors my review. If exploring is your thing, though, you would probably enjoy the book much more!
April 21, 2020
A good lockdown read. Definitely made me appreciate all my creature comforts as she braved the Antarctic weather totally alone and miles from safety.
February 25, 2024
Just as Felicity shared photos of her journey through Antarctica in her book, I would have loved if she had also shared her map where she marked each place where she camped and important points on her journey. That would have been great, and one would have felt more part of her journey through Antarctica.
September 11, 2019
As a mountain climber, I thought I had a pretty fair grasp of all the different ways to describe snow and ice. It turns out I wasn't even close. This book is a fantastic thesaurus for terms like 'snow', 'alone', 'bored', and 'desolate'.
The book also serves as a case study of the library of possibilities a person can employ to describe their own crying. My best guess is that the author was attempting to evoke an emotional response from the reader by providing such a verbose depiction of crying. If that's the case, it was certainly lost on me.
It's not that I'm indifferent to the author's hardship. In fact, the hardships is a major component of the experience and the story. I just quickly tired of hearing how the tears fell, or what shape her lips were, or what volume level she used to wail, provided with comparisons to the last time she cried.
I've read more than a few books about polar exploration and mountain expeditions, and this was the least interesting. I found the story to be far too 'in-her-head', so to speak. There were great lengths taken to describe how she felt, what she thought, and her emotional experience. All valid, but certainly not the whole story.
I'm sure those aspects are very valuable to the author, but it carries the story more like a private journal entry than a story of adventure travel.
The book lacks action. The biggest, and perhaps only, suspense is provided by the question of whether or not the author would quit. For such a dangerous and extreme environment, there just isn't much discussion of danger or extremes.
I'll summarize the book here and save you some time: Antarctica is boring as hell. There is almost nothing to see and experiences vary only by what degree of cold and windy a particular day will be. The author is very bored and frequently feels lonely, making it difficult for her to not give up on her trip.
The book also serves as a case study of the library of possibilities a person can employ to describe their own crying. My best guess is that the author was attempting to evoke an emotional response from the reader by providing such a verbose depiction of crying. If that's the case, it was certainly lost on me.
It's not that I'm indifferent to the author's hardship. In fact, the hardships is a major component of the experience and the story. I just quickly tired of hearing how the tears fell, or what shape her lips were, or what volume level she used to wail, provided with comparisons to the last time she cried.
I've read more than a few books about polar exploration and mountain expeditions, and this was the least interesting. I found the story to be far too 'in-her-head', so to speak. There were great lengths taken to describe how she felt, what she thought, and her emotional experience. All valid, but certainly not the whole story.
I'm sure those aspects are very valuable to the author, but it carries the story more like a private journal entry than a story of adventure travel.
The book lacks action. The biggest, and perhaps only, suspense is provided by the question of whether or not the author would quit. For such a dangerous and extreme environment, there just isn't much discussion of danger or extremes.
I'll summarize the book here and save you some time: Antarctica is boring as hell. There is almost nothing to see and experiences vary only by what degree of cold and windy a particular day will be. The author is very bored and frequently feels lonely, making it difficult for her to not give up on her trip.
October 20, 2020
Felicity Aston, the first (and only) woman to ski across Antarctic continent alone lays bare what it’s like to be truly alone. To be alone for two months while navigating roughly 1700 km through the most desolated and hostile landscape on our planet, most of the time without any any living soul for hundreds of kilometers around - either for company or help. Despite the incredible and heroic achievement of crossing the white continent, by no any means this is a bravado tale - on contrary, this is a confession on fragility and vulnerability of human body and mind when thrown one on one with the Mother Nature. The journey of human psyche through total solitude, through sound and color stimulus deprivation of near constant whiteout of Antarctica, through daily utter exhaustion of body - that for me was even more fascinating that account of the physical challenges and Antarctic scenery. Felicity does not shy away from admitting how often and how severe she was on the edge of break down, mental and physical. One can not help but to grind teeth while reading pages of snowstorm on the glacier or severe panic attack on the crevasse field and one can not help but cheer the sunny and “easy” days of the journey. One thing that I was missing though is maps of her trek (there are none), as there are very few people among readers who can apply that level of geographical knowledge of Antarctic continent while reading this book. But forget about maps and let your mind create own imaginary Antarctic terrain while skiing alongside Felicity across the land of “white and lonely”. A great read - sincerely recommend!
February 24, 2016
Good readable book of the first woman to walk across Antartica alone. As with these 'first' type people, I have loads of admiration, but less ability to directly relate. Sorry, there's a bit of me that feels I should like to, but I'm actually quite happy reading this with a mug of tea. Maybe that's why books like Gavin Francis's excellent Empire Antartica, his account as serving a year as base doctor at the British science base was one of my favourites (apart from him being a very good writer) there was a sense of a (slightly) more normal person in a fairly extraordinary place - but which was still tangible to readers.
But Aston is a more human figure than most explorers and this is an engaging account of her time, and written with commendable brevity in most places. I enjoyed her honesty and being quite open about her emotions going through the trek in a way that not all are (and there may be a bit of gender stereotyping here? Well it makes for a better read).
So good on her. I won't do it, but I'd enjoy whatever she does next.
But Aston is a more human figure than most explorers and this is an engaging account of her time, and written with commendable brevity in most places. I enjoyed her honesty and being quite open about her emotions going through the trek in a way that not all are (and there may be a bit of gender stereotyping here? Well it makes for a better read).
So good on her. I won't do it, but I'd enjoy whatever she does next.
September 17, 2019
I have often found that autobiographies are somewhat self serving. It was a pleasant surprise to read Felicities narrative and not find much of that. Alone in Antarctica provides a vivid description of her daily life on the ice, her small victories and defeats and her discussions of each. I felt that I was with her as she skied and with her in her tent where she often reminisced about the trials of the day and the fears of what was to come. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to those who are interested in learning from those who have engaged in extreme sports or high adventure.
March 9, 2020
An inspiring and empowering account of the author’s journey across Antartica - the first female solo exploration. A thoughtful well-written journey where the greatest challenge is the mental pressure and exhaustion of being alone in a vast, beautiful yet lifeless milieu. I personally loved reading about her story, she was so relatable and personable. I felt too, the whipping wind on my back, the bone chilling cold, the terror of being alone in a blizzard with only my tent as a shelter...and the reality that sometimes, the hardest but most necessary thing to do, is to get out of the tent.
June 28, 2016
This was the best book I've read in quite a while. It was fascinating to learn a little more about polar exploring and the impacts of isolation on the human psyche. I found it really engaging that as much as I could never imagine taking on a challenge like the author faced, she made the experience seem accessible and allowed the reader into the hardships and joys alike (spoiler: mostly hardships).
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
August 10, 2018
Enjoyed this memoir of a woman skiing alone across Antarctica. Aston used her writing to help us follow her emotions from the anxious and fearful beginning through the hard mental challenges she grappled with to the well-earned finish. She applies the lessons she learned to all of us: keep getting out of the tent each and every day.
This is not the typical type of book I am drawn to but was surprised how much I connected with it and ended up enjoying it. Good discussion at Book Club.
This is not the typical type of book I am drawn to but was surprised how much I connected with it and ended up enjoying it. Good discussion at Book Club.
December 20, 2019
At times, my attention drifted, but overall I enjoyed reading the book. It was not suspenseful like some real-life adventure tales are, but you get a feel for what it was like to be completely alone in a monotonous landscape for two solid months. I think part of the reason the book was not riveting was the author's impressive organization and skills. She made a couple of mistakes, but her experience and intelligence kept her out of trouble. An interesting read.
January 17, 2015
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
It is a fascinating story of survival in an extreme environment, as well as, loneliness. I enjoyed the book alot.
January 26, 2015
Loved this account of her physical and emotional struggle. Highly recommended. I would like to see a map and some more detail of her gear.
June 16, 2018
Amazing feat, but you can only describe the weather, walking and aloneness so much before it becomes monotonous. Struggled to finish.
March 8, 2019
I love survival adventure books, but this didn’t do it for me at all. Mostly about her thoughts along the trip.
March 8, 2019
A notable achievement gone wrong in written form. Too much false bravado and personification for my taste.
Also, there’s no map! Am I just supposed to imagine her journey without visuals?
Also, there’s no map! Am I just supposed to imagine her journey without visuals?
March 20, 2022
Alone in Antarctica: First Woman to Ski Solo Across the Southern Ice by Felicity Aston, a 59-day, 1084-mile journey that began November 25th, summer of 2012. Alongside, I read another book, Alone Across the Artic: One Woman’s Epic Journey by Dog Team by Pam Flowers, a 11-month journey, 2500 miles that began February 1993. The contrasts and similarities made a wonderful duet in my reading expedition.
Aston, being her own sled dog, pulled two blue sledges herself. Flowers traveled with an eight-sled dog family, each adding their own story. At times, Aston only emotional strength was founded in staying diligent in her daily habits, one being to simply get out of the tent. Flowers, in comparison, had her dog team to care for, providing a mutual bond.
Aston, aided by technology, provided a daily report of her position and to share a phone cast for others to listen too. A GPS allowed Aston to maintain direction, at times impossible to walk straight line due to lack of peripheral views. The minimal surroundings also highlighted the aloneness of the Antarctic.
Aston refilled twice, with a one day stay over at the Amundsen-Scott Visitors Station at the South Pole. Flowers refilled at villages that dotted the way and an unexpected 5 month stay in an Inuit village.
Both expeditions are amazing, a bit terrifying, and sometimes humorous. Pam Flowers book, written for young adults, is filled with pictures, maps, charts, and her relationship to each sled dog. This provided a contrast style to Felicity Aston, of simply words and an inclusive eight-page photo album midway through the book. I would have loved a map included in the Aston story. Both books provided unexpected insights to the regions explored.
Aston, being her own sled dog, pulled two blue sledges herself. Flowers traveled with an eight-sled dog family, each adding their own story. At times, Aston only emotional strength was founded in staying diligent in her daily habits, one being to simply get out of the tent. Flowers, in comparison, had her dog team to care for, providing a mutual bond.
Aston, aided by technology, provided a daily report of her position and to share a phone cast for others to listen too. A GPS allowed Aston to maintain direction, at times impossible to walk straight line due to lack of peripheral views. The minimal surroundings also highlighted the aloneness of the Antarctic.
Aston refilled twice, with a one day stay over at the Amundsen-Scott Visitors Station at the South Pole. Flowers refilled at villages that dotted the way and an unexpected 5 month stay in an Inuit village.
Both expeditions are amazing, a bit terrifying, and sometimes humorous. Pam Flowers book, written for young adults, is filled with pictures, maps, charts, and her relationship to each sled dog. This provided a contrast style to Felicity Aston, of simply words and an inclusive eight-page photo album midway through the book. I would have loved a map included in the Aston story. Both books provided unexpected insights to the regions explored.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2024
I understand how this book wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I absolutely loved every page of it. As someone who has taken a fair share of long, tough journeys on foot and cycle, but life circumstances force me to live an urban life of work, parenting, and home duties, it was such a treat to be able to experience this journey alongside Felicity. Her descriptions of Antarctica are written with such gorgeous language, I found myself re-reading them and closing my eyes, just to savour the picture in my mind. This is the ultimate man (or woman)-vs-nature story. The landscape becomes a second character with which she wrestles, and the sun becomes a third character, a friend. The way she connected with her surroundings was reminiscent of our Canadian Indigenous spirituality, and I particularly enjoyed the back and forth between her and the sun.
I will agree with others, that a map would have been ideal for this book. I kept trying to search out the locations she travelled to on a map of Antarctica but some of them are more obscure. Having read a previous review about how Aston "lied", and this being the reason she did not include a map, I find it disappointing if this is the case. Looking at the explorer's webpage, it seems that none of the ski explorers travelling solo have actually gone from coast to coast, and that Aston's journey is indeed considered "crossing Antarctica" by polar exploration standards. And truthfully, I don't care. It still was an incredible feat and she should be proud of herself.
As winter is approaching, I find myself excited and exhilarated by the approaching snow and cold, having read such a fresh perspective on it. Thank you, Felicity, for such a lovely read.
I will agree with others, that a map would have been ideal for this book. I kept trying to search out the locations she travelled to on a map of Antarctica but some of them are more obscure. Having read a previous review about how Aston "lied", and this being the reason she did not include a map, I find it disappointing if this is the case. Looking at the explorer's webpage, it seems that none of the ski explorers travelling solo have actually gone from coast to coast, and that Aston's journey is indeed considered "crossing Antarctica" by polar exploration standards. And truthfully, I don't care. It still was an incredible feat and she should be proud of herself.
As winter is approaching, I find myself excited and exhilarated by the approaching snow and cold, having read such a fresh perspective on it. Thank you, Felicity, for such a lovely read.
February 21, 2022
If it's an enormous challenge to cross Antarctica alone and with nothing more than your own arms and legs to propel you forwards, it's also a significant challnge to write about it. After all, there are around sixty days of relentless sameness to describe, albeit with plenty of drama but usually of the same kinds, such as the horrifying prospect of tumbling into a crevasse and being unable to climb out.
Felicity Aston does an excellent job, conveying not only the extraordinary experience of saying goodbye to the plane that brings her to the start of the journey (and waiting for it with mixed feelings at the end), but also the daily need to get out of the security of her tiny tent and face the wind and the crevasses.
Of course the reader knows that she will succeed in becoming the first woman to cross the continent, but even though her account is quite condensed she conveys the enormity of the project. For example, she points out that Antarctica is equivalent in area to the USA plus Mexico, which gives a new dimension to those strips of white at the bottom of world maps. There is a refreshing incident towards the end where Aston veers off her direct route to climb a nearby mountain, simply for the view, enjoying not just the climb but the strength she's gained from pulling sledges all the way across a huge continent.
We do get incites into her struggles, but these never seem to overwhelm her (or, if they did, she soon regains her confidence). In a fairly low key way she comes across as a remarkable woman, and I suspect that she is, albeit her modesty might inhibit her from agreeing.
Felicity Aston does an excellent job, conveying not only the extraordinary experience of saying goodbye to the plane that brings her to the start of the journey (and waiting for it with mixed feelings at the end), but also the daily need to get out of the security of her tiny tent and face the wind and the crevasses.
Of course the reader knows that she will succeed in becoming the first woman to cross the continent, but even though her account is quite condensed she conveys the enormity of the project. For example, she points out that Antarctica is equivalent in area to the USA plus Mexico, which gives a new dimension to those strips of white at the bottom of world maps. There is a refreshing incident towards the end where Aston veers off her direct route to climb a nearby mountain, simply for the view, enjoying not just the climb but the strength she's gained from pulling sledges all the way across a huge continent.
We do get incites into her struggles, but these never seem to overwhelm her (or, if they did, she soon regains her confidence). In a fairly low key way she comes across as a remarkable woman, and I suspect that she is, albeit her modesty might inhibit her from agreeing.
October 30, 2024
I am always fascinated by people who want to conquer the Polar regions, so I was anxious to read Alone in Antarctica: The First Woman To Ski Solo Across The Southern Ice.
In 2012, physicist and meteorologist, Felicity Aston, took two months off from all human contact to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. She wanted to become the first woman, and only the third person in history, to accomplish this. Making it more difficult, she wanted to do it strictly by cross country skiing. The only other people to do this were two Norwegian men, each of whom employed either parasails or kites.
Over the course of her 1084 miles of solitude, Aston struggles with hallucinations and debilitating self-doubt as she races against the clock to reach her destination before winter would make her completion impossible. Readers witness months of enduring extreme isolation, gale-force winds in sub-freezing temperatures, and arduous climbing over icy mountains while risking the possibility of falling into a crevass and being lost forever.
This memoir is filled with stories that explain why she wanted to make this journey. Her resilience, her toughness and her willingness to open up about how difficult this journey made this why I enjoyed this book so much. My only criticism is that, at times, it did start to feel repetitive.
Felicity Ashton does a wonderful job of recounting the beauty of Antarctica, the impact it had on her psyche and the often harrowing experience of being so alone. If you are interested in extreme adventure memoirs, you should read this fascinating book.
In 2012, physicist and meteorologist, Felicity Aston, took two months off from all human contact to ski across the entire continent of Antarctica alone. She wanted to become the first woman, and only the third person in history, to accomplish this. Making it more difficult, she wanted to do it strictly by cross country skiing. The only other people to do this were two Norwegian men, each of whom employed either parasails or kites.
Over the course of her 1084 miles of solitude, Aston struggles with hallucinations and debilitating self-doubt as she races against the clock to reach her destination before winter would make her completion impossible. Readers witness months of enduring extreme isolation, gale-force winds in sub-freezing temperatures, and arduous climbing over icy mountains while risking the possibility of falling into a crevass and being lost forever.
This memoir is filled with stories that explain why she wanted to make this journey. Her resilience, her toughness and her willingness to open up about how difficult this journey made this why I enjoyed this book so much. My only criticism is that, at times, it did start to feel repetitive.
Felicity Ashton does a wonderful job of recounting the beauty of Antarctica, the impact it had on her psyche and the often harrowing experience of being so alone. If you are interested in extreme adventure memoirs, you should read this fascinating book.
June 6, 2020
Common themes in this book ranked by prevalence: emotions, loneliness, wind, snow, sun, cold, ice, mountains, crevasses, other skiers (3)
No sense of unknown other than “will she lose her mind today?”, or during a few brief pages “will she freeze?”, or “will she give up?” for a quick moment, “will she fall into a crevasse?”. Learning about the “no poop” zone around the pole was one of the few interesting parts of the entire book. Very impressive overall physical feat, but it was rather uninteresting to hear her continually talk about the mental toll isolation as taking on her when 1) she chose this trip and 2) the world is currently experiencing forced isolation (albeit we aren’t isolated hundred of miles from the nearest humans). Now that I’ve experienced mandatory isolation, it seems as though I could withstand the mental challenges of her trip, although I’m sure true Antartica skiing isolation is much more unbearable than stuck at home isolation. Conclusion: true loneliness seams bad, possibly terrible, and Antartica seems really really boring.
No sense of unknown other than “will she lose her mind today?”, or during a few brief pages “will she freeze?”, or “will she give up?” for a quick moment, “will she fall into a crevasse?”. Learning about the “no poop” zone around the pole was one of the few interesting parts of the entire book. Very impressive overall physical feat, but it was rather uninteresting to hear her continually talk about the mental toll isolation as taking on her when 1) she chose this trip and 2) the world is currently experiencing forced isolation (albeit we aren’t isolated hundred of miles from the nearest humans). Now that I’ve experienced mandatory isolation, it seems as though I could withstand the mental challenges of her trip, although I’m sure true Antartica skiing isolation is much more unbearable than stuck at home isolation. Conclusion: true loneliness seams bad, possibly terrible, and Antartica seems really really boring.
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