Chloë Courtauld is the 36-year-old great niece of the Arctic explorer and sailor August Courtauld and aims to follow in the Arctic footsteps of her famous great uncle, who made history as “The Man on the Ice Cap”.
Chloë has spent the last six years working in motorsport, namely Formula One and A1GP, and has always had a passion for travel and adventure. She has travelled extensively in Asia, the Far East, Australia, Brazil and Europe as well as trekked in Sri Lanka, Jordan and trekked up to 5,500m in the Himalayas in Nepal.
In 2007, she managed a Trans Antarctic Expedition, which aimed to pilot the first ever bio-fuelled vehicle across Antarctica, as well as raising awareness of climate change. She also managed a world record breaking attempt for the “Fastest Unsupported Team Trek to the South Pole”. Most recently, she has been working with Ben Saunders, the admired British polar adventurer.
Captivated and inspired by her great uncle’s courage and bravery, Chloë aims to keep his spirit alive by embarking on a journey in celebration of him. The journey will be a tough one, testing Chloe to the limit, as she aims to ski 410kms across the ice-cap in hazardous and unpredictable conditions, supported by two dog teams pulling sledges packed with essential supplies.
After travelling for approximately 12 days, Chloe aims to reach the exact spot where her great uncle was marooned, witnessing first-hand the desolate, featureless and bitterly cold ice-cap he had to endure for so many months. She will place a Union Jack and pipe in his memory and in honour of his admirable spirit and selfless courage, knowing his memories are preserved in a frozen, timeless ice-chamber beneath the snow.
“Deeply moved by my great uncle's remarkable survival story on the Greenland ice-cap during the winter of 1930, where his powers of courage, inner faith and spirit of determination kept him alive in one of the most hostile environments on earth, I have felt compelled to want to re-trace his footsteps across the ice-cap and go to the place where he spent 149 days alone in a bitterly cold, dark and featureless white frozen desert, eventually becoming trapped and buried under the ice.
This expedition is giving me the chance to understand and share in my great uncle's thirst for challenge and adventure, as well as the exhilaration of going into the unknown. It is the chance appreciate the hardships, risks and dangers explorers like my great-uncle had to endure. Most of all, it is giving me the chance to bring his spirit alive and keep a little flame ignited in his memory.” |
