Elite Traveler Spring 2021

INFLUENCE THE VOYAGER The Voyager RobynWoodhead in Antarctica by Samantha Coles

From top Antarctica; Robyn Woodhead, co-founder of White Desert

“On that first trip to Antarctica, I ended up living in a tent for two months on my own. It required true inner grit and reflection, whilst also getting to know myself and what I was capable of.”

Robyn Woodhead, founder of pioneering Antarctic travel company White Desert, has had more than her fair share of adventure. She’s an Arctic explorer, extreme athlete (she’s hiked Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest — twice), and is an expert in camping, completely alone, in just a tent, for months on end in the harshest of environments. She first visited Antarctica in 2005 and looking out of the window of a Russian cargo plane, was in awe of the vast, ethereal landscape: “I immediately realized that this was the closest I would ever get to visiting another planet. White stretches in every direction, while the sense of raw, natural beauty is endless. When I stepped out of the aircraft and onto the blue ice runway, my first breath almost froze in my lungs, while the sun’s glare rendered me nearly blind. On my second step, I slipped on the ice, falling flat on my back, which very literally brought me straight back