Fiona Thornewill (born 10 July 1966) is an English

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

who reached the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

solo and unaided in a record 42 days in 2004, walking and skiing over 700 miles in the process.

Background

Born in Upton, Nottinghamshire, England, Fiona was into sports as a child, especially gymnastics, horse-racing and ice-skating. She attended Lowes Wong Junior School in nearby Southwell before going to The Rodney School in Kirklington. Later, Fiona worked as an administrator for the RAF where she able to gain experience in flying and gliding. She also opened her own gymnasium, but tragedy struck when her husband, Bill, was killed in a road accident. In 1992, Fiona met her present husband, Mike, who introduced her to outdoor sports such as mountaineering. Mike also had ambitions to cross the South Pole overland, and these plans encouraged Fiona to follow suit.

Expeditions

In 2000, Michael and Fiona became the first married couple to reach the South Pole, along with Catherine Hartley. In 2001, Mike and Fiona set up an expedition to reach the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

, raising money for charity in the process. Guiding them was

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

mountaineer and

arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

adventurer Paul Landry. They reached their destination in 56 days. Fiona's greatest feat came in 2200 though, when from the edge of the continent at Hercules Inlet, she reached the South Pole in 41 days on 10 January, beating her rival Rosie Stancer in the process. The previous record was 44 days, and the previous best for a woman was 50 days – by the Norwegian Liv Arneson. Walking 22 miles a day, Fiona had to pull a sledge weighing 285 pounds, and her success is perhaps even more remarkable considering she lost her satellite navigation system 10 days in. Base camp then had to follow Fiona's mandatory emergency beacon, which showed location, and temperature only, via satellite link. As news reached home she was congratulated by friends and family, and husband Mike was part of a party racing to meet her on

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

External links

Polar Challenge
– information about Fiona Thornewill's record-breaking walk to the South Pole. {{DEFAULTSORT:Thornewill, Fiona 1966 births Living people People from Upton, Newark and Sherwood Members of the Order of the British Empire Female polar explorers English polar explorers British explorers of Antarctica