British female adventurer enters record books with solo ski across Antarctica



She skis 1,084 miles in 59 days, pulling two sledges

A Briton has become the first woman to ski alone across Antarctica.

Record-breaking adventurer Felicity Aston completed her exhausting journey over the icy continent today - after 59 days pulling two sledges for 1,084 miles.

She tweeted that she had made it to Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf, after finally completing her journey which started from the Leverett Glacier on November 25, last year.

Testing: Felicity Aston's record-breaking trek started on November 25 last year

Veteran adventurer Felicity, 34, pictured in a tent on her trip, has been promised red wine and a hot shower when she finally gets picked up Ready to go: In this picture, adventurer Felicity snaps herself at Union Glacier days before she traveled to her starting point

"!!!Congratulations to the 1st female to traverse Antarctica SOLO.V proud," her Twitter message said.

Aston, from Kent, also set another record for the first human to ski solo across Antarctica using only her own muscle power.



A male-female team already combined to ski across Antarctica without kites or machines to pull them across, but Aston is the first to do this alone.

Muscle power: Felicity Aston during a pre-expedition trip in Iceland



Snow joke: Aston covered more than 1,000 miles in just 59 days, battling violent weather and treacherous conditions along the way

But she can't yet relax and enjoy her astonishing achievement.

Severe weather has left her stranded in a tent, while she waits for a plane to return her to the relative comfort of base camp.

She tweeted: 'Just in case I was in danger of feeling sentimental, a violent wind has appeared from nowhere and is beating the tent like the bad old days.'



The veteran adventurer, 34, worked as a meteorologist in Antarctica and has led team expeditions in the Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland.

Finger marks the spot: Aston points to a map of the frozen continent before she set off from Chile



Updates: Aston kept people up to date on her historic adventure via Twitter

Her journey took her from the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Leverett Glacier and across the Transantarctic Mountains to the continent's vast central plateau, where she had to fight headwinds most of the way to the South Pole.



Then she turned toward Hercules Inlet and a base camp where the company Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions provides logistical support to each summer's Antarctic expeditions.