Jade Hameister


Jade Hameister
Born (2001-06-05) 5 June 2001
Residence Melbourne, Australia
Nationality Australian
Known for Youngest person to ski to the North Pole, anywhere outside the last degree. Youngest woman to cross Greenland icecap.
Website http://www.jadehameister.com/

Jade Hameister (born 5 June 2001) is a 17 year old student based in Melbourne, Australia who has succeeded her way through her ambitious 'Polar Quest' which made her become the youngest person in history to pull off the 'polar hat-trick', skiing to the North Pole, the South Pole, and crossing the second largest polar ice cap on the planet – Greenland.[1] These three missions saw Jade cover over 1,300 km (totaling almost four months on ice).

Her expeditions have been captured as part of a National Geographic feature-length documentary which will document both her Greenland and her upcoming South Pole expedition. The film is due for release mid-2018.

North Pole

In April 2016, Jade (aged 14) travelled 150 km from 88 degrees 40 over the drifting polar sea ice to arrive at the North Pole to become the youngest person (male or female) in history to ski to the North Pole from anywhere outside 89 degrees.[2]

Each day, Jade skied with her 50 kg sled for 8–10 hours navigating around open 'leads' of water or climbing over 'pressure ridges' in the ice, the travel was complicated and the days were physical and arduous. After establishing camp each night, the expedition found, on waking the next morning that they had drifted off course on a strong easterly ocean current ('negative drift'). Temperatures were as low as −40C and Jade faced other risks such as falling through thin ice into the freezing Arctic waters and polar bears.[3]

Jade was awarded the Australian Geographic Society's Young Adventurer of the Year after her 2016 North Pole expedition.

Jade's North Pole expedition was captured in a National Geographic documentary On Thin Ice: Jade’s Polar Dream which aired in 170 countries.[4]

Greenland Icecap

The second expedition saw Jade complete the 550 km traverse the Greenland ice-cap departing from Kangerlussuaq on the West Coast and finishing at Isortoq Hut on the East Coast on 4 June 2017. Spending roughly 9 hours a day on the ice covering approximately 25 km a day, Jade pushed herself to complete the expedition in 27 days, making her the youngest woman in history to cross Greenland Ice caps unsupported and unassisted.[5]

Progress for the first three days was slow, as Jade had to work her way up through the West coast icefall in crampons. The team found themselves navigating around melt ponds and crevasses in the maze-like environment which meant constant dead ends and endless back-tracking to find a viable route.

Once through the icefall, Jade began her grind up to the top of the polar icecap reaching around 2,850m above sea level at day 17.

Temperatures at night dropped to −20 degrees, but the warm conditions during the day meant that soft surface snow did not grant an easy descent down from the top of the polar plateau. At one point, Jade resorted to smearing butter on the skins of her skis to create more glide and stop the snow balling up under her feet.

Jade was hit early in the trip by a blizzard but due to the warm weather she was pelted with rain instead of snow, forcing her to cut the days short to try and dry out in her tent.[6]

South Pole

Jade embarked on the final leg of her Polar quest at the end of November 2017. This journey saw Jade cover over 600 km from the Ross Ice Shelf at the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. She completed the trek in 37 days and reached the South Pole on 10 January 2018[7]. Jade claimed a handful of titles including the youngest person in history as well as the first Australian woman ever to ski from the coast to the South Pole unsupported and unassisted.

Only 140 people in history have skied from coast to South Pole unsupported and unassisted. Only 20 of these were women.

Jade dragged a sled weighing around double her body weight from sea level up to around 3000m in altitude on the polar plateau, where temperatures sit at around minus 30 degrees. This contained all her food and fuel for the journey. Her days were filled with 24-hour daylight and an intense solitude; no plant or animal life is seen this far south, just snow, ice, rock and sky.

Young Women & Climate Change

Jade is passionate about shifting the focus for young women from how they appear to the possibilities of what they can do and also about raising awareness about the impact of climate change on the Earth's beautiful and fragile polar regions.

She delivered a TEDx Talk in August 2016 and in early 2017 presented to a combined live audience of over 12,000 students at ImagiNATION in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane[8]. Jade also attended the National Geographic Explorers Symposium in Washington DC in 2016 and 2017.

Upcoming Book

Jade is currently working with Pan Macmillan Australia on a book which documents her polar hat trick expeditions. The book is due to be released in late 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Jade Hameister". Jade Hameister. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  2. ↑ "Youngest teen to trek to the North Pole returns home to Melbourne". 9news.com.au. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Teenager Jade Hameister skis into the history books". Australian Geographic. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  4. ↑ Groves, Don. "National Geographic Documentary Tracks Teenager's Ground-Breaking Trek To North Pole". Forbes. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "The Morning Show: Aussie 16-year-old arctic explorer is making history – %%sitename%". Jade Hameister. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  6. ↑ "Skiing into history". 8 June 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  7. ↑ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/destinations/antarctica/teen-skier-historic-antarctic-polar-hat-trick/
  8. ↑ "My journey to the North Pole and beyond | Jade Hameister | TEDxMelbourne". youtube.com. Aug 16, 2016.
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