In January 2018, a team of five women from Asia, Africa and the Middle East, will embark on a self-funded climbing expedition to the Heritage Mountain Range in Antarctica to promote gender equality and the integrity of the environment.

Under the banner of HER Planet Earth, the team will spend three weeks scaling the unclimbed peaks around the untouched Heritage Range, cradled within the Ellsworth Mountains. The journey will begin in Punta Arenas, Chile in South America, before the team make a trip to Antarctica and land at Union Glacier.

The aim of this expedition is to highlight the importance of climate change and conservation issues with an added objective to raise S$30,000 for the United Nations’ Women Lead Climate Action programmes that empower and educate underprivileged women in the Asia region and engage them in environmental issues and conservation activities.

Champion for a Good Cause

Spearheading the expedition to Antarctica are two women based in Singapore: Philanthropist and Adventurer, Christine Amour-Levar, Founder of HER Planet Earth and Co-Founder of Women On A Mission and Environmentalist and Polar Explorer, Sandra Marichal, Founder of #Up2degrees.

Amour-Levar says this: “Women are more vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change but have different viewpoints, concerns and ideas for progress. Until these are taken on board, with women empowered to play a central role in decision-making at all levels, environmental sustainability will remain a distant dream.”

Why Choose Antarctica?

Antarctica is a powerful symbol of this struggle because it is also fighting for its own survival. Being the world’s largest desert, which is 98 per cent covered in ice, the melt-rate of glaciers has tripled over the last decade, according to the researchers at the University of California at Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Today, scientists predict based on results that there could be a raise in global sea levels by 10cm, which could be devastating for our planet in the long-term.

“To protect Antarctica and the rest of our planet, we must inspire leaders to create change. This Expedition is a challenging mission and a commitment for life to fight for environmental sustainability,” said Sandra Marichal, Environmentalist and Polar Explorer as well as Founder of #Up2degrees.

During their trip, the women will attempt steep ice couloirs, classic ridge traverses, icy crests, rock pyramids, hidden valleys and unclimbed peak and experience the cold, dry, windy climate of Antarctica. Average mid-season temperatures at the Union Glacier base camp in January will range from -12C to -4C. However, temperatures can drop as low as -30C or -40C on windy days.

For more details on HER Planet Earth, visit www.herplanetearth.com, click here to read more about the team bios or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To support the team please visit the team’s fundraising page for the UN’s Women Lead Climate Action Programmes in Cambodia.

Images courtesy of Antarctic Logistics Expedition (ALE)