I interviewed polar explorer and scientist Felicity Aston seven years in the past. It was an unforgettable interview (for a lot of readers, too, I do know!). Final weekend, when the mayor introduced that NYC was colder than components of Antarctica, I instantly considered Felicity’s unbelievable tales and winter pores and skin recs. Today, Felicity lives together with her household on Vigur Island, a nature reserve and eiderdown farm simply south of the Arctic Circle, the place she continues to analysis and lead expeditions throughout the polar areas. All of us beloved this interview, so in honor (?) of this latest chilly snap, we thought we’d share it once more…
Felicity Aston is a polar explorer and Antarctic scientist. In 2012, she turned the primary lady to ski throughout Antarctica alone (!) and now travels the world main expeditions and talking about her work within the polar areas. When she’s not on expedition, she lives between Kent, England, and Reykjavik, Iceland, together with her husband and toddler son. Right here, she shares what she’s discovered about concern, the strongest lip balm, and the old-school drugstore moisturizer she brings on each journey…
So, what IS a typical day like for a modern-day polar explorer?
If I’m on an expedition, my day begins by waking up in a tent, in a sleeping bag subsequent to somebody who begins out a complete stranger however in a short time turns into not so. You then spend an hour getting dressed, melting snow for water to make breakfast, and getting your stuff sorted for the day. You then pack up your camp and provides onto a sledge, and transfer on. Then about 12 hours later, you unpack, construct your own home, make meals and do all the pieces as shortly as doable so you may get to sleep earlier than doing it another time the subsequent day. You spend a while taking care of your self — your toes particularly. Your toes are a very powerful a part of your package.
That is smart. How do you maintain them?
It’s wonderful how many individuals arrive with their toes in a pair of socks and don’t see them once more till the tip of the expedition. But it surely’s so essential to have take a look at your toes day by day, to see in the event you’re getting sore patches or blisters, what’s occurring along with your nails, and many others. In the event that they’re in socks, they’re all the time going to be a bit damp, and gained’t be capable of heal correctly. Some folks spend quite a lot of time placing lotions on their toes, however I simply ensure I give them time within the open air every day.
I’ve to confess, I really feel barely ridiculous asking about your ‘magnificence routine’ on a polar expedition. However then once more, skincare should tackle a complete new which means in that setting.
Yeah, it’s actually essential! Within the morning, I slap on beneficiant quantities of the best issue sunblock that I can discover. Doesn’t matter what model, however I usually wind up utilizing kids’s sunblock as a result of it has the best SPF, and it’s thicker in your pores and skin (so it additionally helps shield from the chilly, wind, and excessive dryness). You need to keep in mind, in locations like Antarctica, there isn’t a ozone safety. You’re below the opening within the ozone layer, so that you burn shortly and severely. I’m continuously placing on lip balm since you wouldn’t consider how shortly your lips undergo. I like Labello with a excessive SPF.
Okay, your pores and skin is wonderful. Let’s discuss moisturizer.
Within the night, I clear my face with my luxurious merchandise: a moist wipe. I give it rub to get off all the surplus sunblock, snot, and god is aware of what else I’ve received on my face by the tip of the day. It’s all the time a bit frozen — all the pieces is — so it’s like utilizing a chilly compress on my face. Then I placed on a beneficiant dollop of the thickest, strongest moisturizer I can get.
What type?!
the old school Nivea? That is available in a tin? It’s BRILLIANT. I slather it on, and it actually moisturizes my pores and skin in a single day. On many expeditions, I’m the one lady, or considered one of only a few, and the fellows are inclined to snicker after I get out my large pot of moisturizer. However once you’re in a extremely dry setting like Antarctica, in case your pores and skin is sore and your lips are cracking, you’re rather more inclined to chilly accidents and critical issues. Typically I’ll persuade the fellows to attempt some and so they’ll dip a tentative finger in and dab some on their brow — and I’m like, ‘No no no, you’ve gotta get handful and rub it in till your face can take no extra.’ After which on the finish of the journey, they arrive again trying like they’ve been dipped in a vat of acid, with pores and skin peeling off and lips massively swollen and cracked — and my pores and skin’s typically all proper. I really feel vindicated!
As an explorer, what drew you to the polar areas, particularly?
I’ve been on expeditions in desert and jungle environments, and so they have been immensely rewarding experiences. However there’s one thing in regards to the polar setting that retains pulling me again. I ponder if it’s one thing to do with the place I grew up, in southeast England. Snow was a really uncommon, thrilling occasion. College was canceled, we went sledding, and this world that I knew was remodeled into a unique place. Maybe that’s after I began equating snowy locations with journey. I believe it’s additionally one thing to do with the truth that these environments are on the edges of the globe. Taking a look at a map, my eyes all the time wander towards the fringes — the locations I don’t know something about. I’ve all the time been pushed by that robust sense of curiosity: Who’s there? What would it not really feel wish to be there? And then you definitely out of the blue notice the one solution to reply these questions is to go there and discover out.
You’ve spent a lot of your profession in Antarctica — a spot most of us can solely think about. What did you study that place that you simply’d need others to know?
Individuals have a tendency to think about Antarctica as this tiny place on the underside of the map. But it surely’s monumental (twice the dimensions of Australia!), and it has a big impact on our every day lives. Whether or not it’s the temperature in New York at this time or the truth that it’s snowing right here in Reykjavik — that may be linked again to what’s occurring in Antarctica.
I wager your fingers want quite a lot of TLC, too.
The primary situation I’ve with my fingers in wintertime — not simply on expedition — is that the pores and skin round my nails cracks. I really feel like such a wuss after I come again from a visit and individuals are anticipating to listen to about horrible accidents and gore, and I’m saying, ‘The pores and skin on my fingers cracked and it was actually sore!’ However, you already know, it’s like that paper-cut agony. One of the best factor is zinc oxide. There are one million completely different model names, however any zinc oxide cream will do. You rub it into the pores and skin round your fingers and it really works splendidly.
Okay, this can be tremendous apparent however I’m guessing you possibly can’t wash your hair on expedition, proper?
No, you possibly can’t. It stays below a hat. However you already know, after I come again from an expedition, my hair is within the GREATEST form. That entire factor about washing your hair much less incessantly? It’s true. My hair clearly will get tremendous greasy and horrible after I’m on the journey, however after I do come again and wash it, it’s shiny and thick and wonderful. So, even after I’m at residence, I attempt to reduce down on washes.
I think about your magnificence routine — and all of your routines — are very completely different once you’re at residence.
Whereas I spend a part of my life within the outdoor, I’m usually residence in entrance of the laptop computer. It could actually take years of planning earlier than you get to do the thrilling stuff. I additionally do quite a lot of talking around the globe, so I’m usually engaged on that (or driving to or from the airport). And I’ve an 18-month-old little boy now, so like most new mother and father, my days at residence are structured round him.
What does your bedtime routine appear to be?
I’m really making the change to natural merchandise. After I was pregnant, I began trying on the components in merchandise and it freaked me out. So, now I exploit Dr. Natural for all the pieces: shampoo, deodorant, hand cream. It simply makes me personally really feel safer. And I like all their varieties — argan oil, aloe vera, tea tree, and many others. I’m a complete convert.
In 2012, you turned the primary lady to ski throughout Antarctica alone — a 59-day, 1,000-mile journey. Amongst different issues, that’s a very long time to be alone. What was that like?
Sure, that half — the being alone half — was the toughest factor I’ve skilled in my whole life. It hit me instantly. These first few seconds after the airplane left me, I used to be struck by the total weight of my aloneness, and the duty that got here with it. That was essentially the most horrifying a part of the expedition. Individuals usually ask how I conquered the concern — however truthfully, I don’t suppose I did. I discovered a solution to hold going despite it, however the concern was all the time there. I discovered lots about myself throughout that expedition.
Like what?
Nicely, I discovered that though I’m very grateful for the expertise, it’s not one thing I ever need to do once more. With no different folks round, each single emotion I had can be instantly, intensely expressed. So, if I felt upset, I might be bawling my eyes out in catastrophic disappointment. If I used to be irritated by one thing, I might be livid, throwing my poles on the bottom and shouting to the sky. If I used to be scared, I’d be shaking and petrified. My feelings swung so laborious and quick that it made me really feel as if I used to be going mad. It did educate me about myself — and about folks basically. The human physique and mind are able to infinite resilience. You see that, when folks survive large traumas, and but go on to steer fulfilling, rewarding lives. You see folks in survival conditions, going past what appears humanly doable, each mentally and bodily. The distinction with my journey was that it wasn’t survival. It was my option to be on the market. I discovered my restrict.
What was it like, transitioning again to common life?
Some issues have been surprisingly troublesome — like going to the grocery retailer. After dwelling in a tent with what I wanted and nothing extra, I used to be overwhelmed by all the alternatives. I’d be standing within the bread aisle looking at one million completely different sorts of loaves and actually couldn’t decide! The vitality of all these tiny choices sapped my power. Social interactions have been unusual, too. Though I used to be going via the motions of standard social conduct, it felt like the actual me was really sitting at the back of my mind someplace, completely disconnected. It took a yr earlier than these two components of me got here again collectively as one, earlier than I felt actually current once more.
So, you felt like completely different variations of your self?
Earlier than that expedition, I had all the time assumed that I used to be intrinsically me. I believed Felicity was a particular, particular factor: that is who I’m, these are my values, that is how I react. However on the market, I spotted that me, my character, is the house between all of the people who have large affect in my life. When these folks and out of doors influences have been taken away, out of the blue my character didn’t have a kind anymore. I felt fluid. It made me notice simply how a lot the folks in our lives assist form who we’re — and the way completely important it’s to encompass your self with others that replicate the values and the character that you simply need to have. People who find themselves good for you.
Thanks a lot, Felicity! Her ebook, Alone in Antartica, got here out in 2014.
P.S. Extra girls share their magnificence uniforms, together with an HBO author and a transgender advocate.
(Fifth picture by Katrina Jane Perry. All different photographs courtesy of Felicity Aston.)
