She Conquered the North;
Now She's Heading South
February 9, 2008

Cross Country Skier featured her trip to the North Pole in November 2007. Now Barbara Hillary is at it again.

The 76-year-old became the first black woman on record to reach the North Pole in 2007. Now the retired nurse, community activist and lung cancer survivor has her sights set on the other end of the world, with a planned trip to the South Pole in November 2008

The New York City native is training and raising funds, hoping to become the first black woman and the oldest person to make that trip.

“When I returned from the North Pole, I received all kinds of letters from older people who thought their lives were over,” Hillary said. “That helped me to understand what my personal achievement means in a broader sense. I am an ordinary person. I was raised in Harlem. I didn’t grow up in a privileged race or a privileged sex. I wasn’t given any extra. If I can do this, then anybody can reach their individual goals. My trips to the poles are symbols for everyone’s personal goals.”

Hillary fell in love with the arctic environment in 2005, after taking a trip to Manitoba, Canada, to photograph polar bears. The trip led to dog sledding and snowmobiling lessons and voracious reading about arctic exploring. As Hillary read about all the men and women who braved challenges to reach the North Pole, she noted that no black woman was mentioned. And she set out to change the history books. Without a heavy bankroll, no training on skis and average physical fitness, Hillary faced a daunting challenge.

“The process of preparing to go to the North Pole was a heaven and a hell,” Hillary says. “I didn’t have any money—not two nickels to rub together—and the base cost of the trip was $23,000. I was trying to raise money, trying to train and learning to absorb rejections. People told me I was too old, that I was going to die there, get eaten by polar bears. But, you know, I don’t allow negative people in my life.”

On April 23, 2007, barely six months after hatching her plan, Hillary stood at the North Pole, having raised most of the funding for the trip, learned to ski, completed rigorous physical training and traveled more than 3,000 miles around the globe. She dedicated the moment to her mother.

Now, Hillary has another goal—to make it to the South Pole.

Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton, Hillary…and Hillary

Since Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole in 1911, exploration of that frozen tundra has been the stuff of legend. Ernest Shackleton…Edmund Hillary…the names of the men who battled the unforgiving Antarctic landscape to reach the South Pole are imprinted on Western consciousness.

Female explorers are less well known. The first woman known to have set foot on Antarctica was the wife of a Norwegian seaman in 1935. Two American women lived there for a year in 1947. An American Women’s Antarctic Expedition arrived at the South Pole on skis in January 1993, covering 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) in 67 days.

As she did for the North Pole trip, Barbara Hillary is preparing her body for the rigorous physical effort, working with a trainer, increasing vegetable consumption, vitamin intake, and treadmill-and-weight-lifting sessions, even lugging a tire up and down the block of her Queens, New York, neighborhood to build strength. She will need to be in top shape to brave average lows of -39 to -20 on a windswept icy plateau of ice 9,000-ft thick.

Hillary is also working with a grassroots team to raise awareness and funds (more than $60,000) to make her dream a reality. According to the 2000 National Geographic article “Women Begin Trek Across Antarctica” by Donald Smith, “One handicap that women [who want to explore the polar regions] continue to suffer is their difficulty in attracting funding for such ventures.” And, of course, there are still those who say a 76-year-old woman has no business planning a trek to the South Pole.

Despite the challenges, Hillary is determined to reach the South Pole and is on the verge of selecting a company that specializes in Antarctic travel to guide her there.

“Why do I want to go to the South Pole? I want to do it to challenge myself on a higher level. It’s the thrill of personal accomplishment,” Hillary says. “But you know what? I also want to reach the South Pole for all those people who said I couldn’t make it to the North Pole. Not only did I make it to the top of the world, but I’m going to make it to the South Pole, too.

“I can’t wait to stand there and know that I can say, ‘I made it!’”

Learn more about Barbara Hillary and support her pole trips at www.barbarahillary.com.