Ordinary Women: An Arctic Adventure

Ordinary Women is an exciting chronicle of the first all-women ski expedition from the Russian side of the planet to the North Pole. Full of surprises from its inception to its execution nearly eight years later, this is an amazing story of women working together, taking on harsh critics, challenging each other, and reaching a common goal. The group, which expanded and contracted through the stresses that all major expeditions face, was made up of determined, but fairly ordinary women who dedicated their arduous trek to young women. From the pitfalls of fundraising to the perils of breaking ice, this intrepid band of adventurers not only achieved their common goal, but transformed themselves in the process. Sue Carter, the expedition’s organizer, describes the problems with group leadership, both in preparation for the expedition and while on the ice. Team selection, physical training, and the logistics of managing food, clothing, and shelter in an environment that wants you dead, are crisply presented in chilling detail, quite literally. Nevertheless, the women reached the top of the world, and a waiting NASA crew, for an international webcast to schoolchildren who had followed their expedition, and for a segment on Good Morning America.