The British Army’s ‘Ice Maidens’, have become the first all-female team to cross Antarctica using muscle power alone, with global infrastructure services company AECOM as the headline sponsor of the expedition.

After spending 62 days on the ice, the 6 soldiers led by Major Nics Wetherill and Major Nat Taylor crossed the finish line at the Hercules Inlet on Saturday, 20^th January.

Over the last two months the team travelled up to 43 kilometres a day, navigating crevasse fields whilst pulling sledges weighing up to 80kg and battling temperatures as low as -40°C.

AECOM, which has been involved in some of the nation’s highest profile engineering projects of recent years from the 2012 London Olympic Park to The Shard, Crossrail and HS2, is honoured to have been headline sponsor of the expedition.

Commenting on the achievement, Lara Poloni, Chief Executive of Europe, Middle East, India & Africa, AECOM, said: “On behalf of everyone here at AECOM I want send a huge congratulations to the Ice Maidens team on completing their incredible adventure across Antarctica. Your dedication, hard work and team spirit are an inspiration to us all here at AECOM and we’re incredibly proud to have been able to support you. Safe journey home and I look forward to congratulating you all in person soon.”

Speaking at the finish line Major Nics Wetherill said: “I’m just so incredibly proud of the team. I can’t believe how far we’ve come… This journey has had good times, bad times and great times for all concerned, and each of them, I know, has made us better people.”

“I now know my five companions so well as to be able to almost tell just from the back of their heads whether they are smiling or crying, although determining this when facing them can be just as difficult with their faces obscured by hoods, goggles and masks!”

Major Nat Taylor said: “I have spent the last few days trying to imprint this beautiful landscape in my mind. We have called it home for close to two months now and I will, in a strange way, miss it a lot!”

“The snow sparkles like there is a layer of pearls on the surface and everywhere you look there is beauty and stillness. The photos just don’t do it justice.”

When Major Taylor and Major Wetherill came up with the idea for the expedition they wanted to inspire women of all ages and abilities. The only conditions for applicants were that they were serving in the Army, Regular or Reserve, and female. 250 applicants were tested to the limit both in the UK and in freezing conditions in Norway with 6 making it through the final selection to take part in the biggest adventure of their lives.

Major Sandy Hennis said: “I’m very much looking forward to talking in schools about our journey and what you can achieve if you believe in yourself and are willing to try. I know crossing Antarctica won’t be at the top of many people’s lists but I hope we have encouraged someone to try something different.”

Lieutenant Jenni Stephenson said “I don’t think I fully appreciate what we’ve been up to yet, I hope that this is the beginning of more Jen adventures and that even if we have managed to encourage just one person through our exploits I will class this as a huge success.”

Starting on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf on the 20^th November, the team climbed up the Transantarctic Mountains, via the Leverett Glacier, to reach the polar plateau.

Speaking about the moment the team reached the South Pole, Lance Sergeant Sophie Montagne said: “It was the middle of the night when we arrived and there was not a soul to be seen.  This really added to the poignancy of the moment as the Pole was ours alone – cue a flood of tears from almost every team member!  As we stepped forward and touched the famous silver globe, a lifelong dream of mine had just been realised.  It’s not often you get to say that!”

After a re-supply at the South Pole the team turned north-west towards Hercules Inlet. Skiing 600km across uneven ground, spending Christmas Day on the ice before reaching their final re-supply point at the base of the Thiel Mountains. From there, they descended to the Hercules Inlet and the finish line.

Captain Zanna Baker said “There is a small part of me that wishes I could just pause time and freeze the moment, so I can truly appreciate where I am and what I have been doing. I’m so grateful to everyone who’s supported me. I am actually quite excited to get back to work and see what could be around the corner!”

B-roll and photographs (please credit ‘British Army’) of their training can be downloaded here.

Contained within the dropbox folder are:

• B-roll from Antarctica
• Photos of the individual Ice Maidens
• Photos of the launch event (Sept 15^th) with their patron, the Countess of Wessex
• Videos of their training in Norway and the Alps
• Assorted training photographs

 

For further information please contact:

James Banks, Head of Media Relations, AECOM on 07384 251036 james.banks@aecom.com

Colin Woodley, Army Media and Communications on 01264 382349. colin.woodley699@mod.gov.uk

To find out more visit www.exicemaiden.com Twitter @exicemaiden and Facebook /exicemaiden.

About AECOM
AECOM is built to deliver a better world. We design, build, finance and operate infrastructure assets for governments, businesses and organisations in more than 150 countries. As a fully integrated firm, we connect knowledge and experience across our global network of experts to help clients solve their most complex challenges. From high-performance buildings and infrastructure, to resilient communities and environments, to stable and secure nations, our work is transformative, differentiated and vital. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM had revenue of approximately $17.4 billion during fiscal year 2016. See how we deliver what others can only imagine at aecom.com and @AECOM.

About ICE MAIDEN

• Team of six women from the Regular Army and Army Reserve

• Major Nics Wetherill, Royal Army Medical Corps (Based in Portsmouth, originally from Buckinghamshire)
• Major Natalie Taylor, Royal Army Medical Corps  (Based in Chepstow, originally from Staffordshire)
• Major Sandy Hennis, Royal Signals (Army Reserve) (Based in Redditch, lives in Cannock, originally from Staffordshire/Derbyshire)
• Captain Zanna Baker, Royal Artillery (Based in Bedfordshire, originally from Hereford)
• Lieutenant Jenni Stephenson, Royal Artillery (Based in Wiltshire, originally from Tyne and Wear)
• Lance Sergeant Sophie Montagne, Honourable Artillery Company (Army Reserve) (Based in London, originally from Sussex)

• Having completed their journey, they will be flown to Union Glacier (Antarctica) before being travelling to Chile where their recovery will begin.
• They are due to return to the UK at the beginning of February

About Nics Wetherill

• Maj Nics Wetherill is a General Practitioner trainee, based in Portsmouth.  Nics earned an Army Medical Cadetship while studying at University of Southampton Medical School, and it was here she first thought of taking an all-female team across Antarctica.
• After commissioning from Sandhurst in December 2012 she was posted to Germany where she swapped her alpine racing background for Nordic skiing, and ended up captaining the Army Medical Services ladies biathlon team.
• Meeting Nat Taylor along the way, she realised this was the partner she had been waiting for to fulfil the Antarctic dream and encourage girls to take up adventurous training.  Nics is particularly focused on promoting the benefits of physical activity and encouraging girls and women of all ages to stretch themselves both physically and mentally.
• Follow Nics on twitter @icemaidenNics

About Nat Taylor

• Major Natalie Taylor is a Regimental Medical Officer at 1 RIFLES based in Wales.
• Following commissioning from Sandhurst in 2010 Natalie has served in Germany, Afghanistan and UK. She is a General Practitioner working with 1 Rifles in Chepstow. Passionate about teaching she is also a Battlefield Advanced Life Support Instructor.
• Natalie trained to become a cross-country ski instructor while studying medicine and has been fortunate to captain the Army Medical Services Ladies biathlon and Nordic ski team.
• Outside of work Natalie competes at the Adventure Racing World Championships with her team, Endurancelife and recently won the 6633 ultra-marathon in 2015. Her other role as Vice President of Girlguiding Breconshire, she works to encourage young women to exceed their potential
• Follow her on twitter @icemaidennat

About Sandy Hennis

• Major Sandy Hennis is a Reservist officer with 37 Signal Regiment based in Redditch and works in an employer support role.
• She started her Army career as a radio technician before commissioning back into the Royal Signals. After completing tours of Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan she left the Regular Army to join the Reserves in 2014. Sandy splits her time between leading overseas expeditions, outdoor instruction and team building/leadership development.
• She enjoys anything which takes her outdoors and can’t turn down a challenge, which has led to many adventures from traversing the Cuillin Ridge to completing the Devizes to Westminster kayak marathon, and more recently competing in the Original Mountain Marathon (OMM).
• She is currently studying Spanish and can usually be found living out of her camper van, wandering in the hills with her dog Bracken or riding the local mountain bike trails.
• Follow her on twitter @icemaidensandy

About Zanna Baker

• Captain Zanna Baker is a Cultural Specialist at the Defence Cultural Specialist Unit (DCSU). Prior to commissioning from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, she was a jack-of-all-trades, dabbling in art, geography, then specialising in music and languages.
• Not liking to sit still for long, she has travelled extensively, including longer periods spent in Nepal and the Middle East. Her life goal of walking to the South Pole was inspired at the age of 18 by a 2 month mountaineering and scientific expedition to the Antarctic. Not only did this develop a dream of hers, she realised the extent of her love for the outdoors in spite of the austere environment, which ultimately led to her joining the military. One happy coincidence!
• Follow her on twitter @icemaidenZanna

About Jenni Stephenson

• Lt Jenni Stephenson is a Troop Commander at 32nd Regiment, Royal Artillery based in Larkhill, Salisbury.
• Jenni commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in April 2015, and in August 2016 completed her first IRONMAN with fellow Ice Maiden Nics Wetherill. I
• In her downtime Jenni loves reading and spends most weekends in Henley on Thames, training and competing for Upper Thames Rowing Club. She will lead the 32nd Regiment Nordic Ski Team across Europe in winter 2016/17.
• Follow her on twitter @icemaidenjenni

About Sophie Montagne

• Lance Sergeant Sophie Montagne is a section commander in the Honourable Artillery Company Army Reserves Regiment at the weekends, and during the week works in marketing in Central London.
• Sophie learned to ski with the Army’s Officer Training Corps at university and has been obsessed with it ever since. She is an Army ski instructor and has raced for her regiment, breaking the national speed limit when she hit 73mph in the downhill. Sophie has a degree in Spanish and lived in Spain and Mexico before heading to London and starting her career as a journalist.
• A move into marketing in 2011 coincided with her joining the Honourable Artillery Company in search of a physical challenge that would offset the desk job. She loves anything to do with the mountains and is a keen trail runner, completing the Jura Fell Race and running 60km in 24hrs in the Thunder Run 2016.
• Follow Sophie on twitter @icemaidensophie