'We're skiing to the South Pole to inspire women'

From ice diving to heaving sledges over snow, the Antarctic Fire Angels confront gender stereotyping as they prepare for a gruelling, 45-day trek

- LARA KILNER

While most of us mere mortals feel a sense of achievement if we make it to the gym twice a week, five women are preparing to tackle something truly awe-inspiring – a trek of more than 700 miles across the Antarctic in temperatures of -50ºC. And they’ll be dragging sledges weighing up to 100 kilos while battling winds that could reach 60mph or more during their expected 45-day journey to the South Pole.

“We’ll be unguided and have no assistance, no resupply of food or fuel, nothing. Just the five of us skiing for 10 hours a day,” says 37-year-old Nikki Upton of London Fire Brigade.

Together, Nikki, and fellow firefighters Georgina Gilbert, 48, from South Wales Fire & Rescue Service, Becky Hinchley, 31, from Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service, and Emily Butler, 32, and 41-year-old Rebecca Openshaw-Rowe, from London, are the Antarctic Fire Angels. Their mission? To challenge stereotypes and empower women.

Nikki explains, “We still live in a world where females aren’t expected to be firefighters or pilots or engineers. We want children to grow up seeing living proof that they can be anything they want to be. We have a saying that you can’t be what you can’t see. It’s all about representation.”

The idea for the expedition came at a 2019 networking event for women in the fire service, which is traditionally a very male-dominated profession. The guest speaker was a member of the 2017-18 Ice Maiden expedition – the first all-women Army team to cross the Antarctic using muscle power alone.