The journey:

• a 3 week ski traverse across the northern Patagonian icecap from Lago Leonés to the San Rafael glacier
• an ocean rowing boat taken from Lago San Rafael through the fjords and over 1,500km in the Pacific, along the Chilean coast to Valparaíso
• 250 kms and 9000 vertical meters to climb from the sea to the 6962m summit of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia.

Expedition firsts:

• 1st team to do a multi-terrain traverse of this nature in Chile
• 1st all-female team to cross the Northern Patagonian Ice Cap
• 1st team to attempt a modern day ocean rowing expedition in South America
• 1st women to do a sea to summit ascent of Aconcagua

The timing:

Late December 2012 to early March 2013

• 3 weeks crossing the icecap
• 3 weeks rowing
• 4 weeks sea to summit

The challenge:
To complete an endurance journey more complex than anything done before by women in South America.
To work successfully as a team, being both leaders and learners as the nature of the journey changes.

The messages:

• Women can achieve extraordinary things working together.
• Wilderness is an essential resource in learning about ourselves and our world.
• Leadership is a skill each of us can exercise. Learning is a journey which never ends.

The Ultimate Trilogy aims to challenge, to inspire and to educate, telling women (and men) around the world that they can be more, do more, dream big and make it happen. Not enough of the amazing achievements of women are celebrated in public and in the media. Not enough women realise they can do amazing things. Role models telling stories of dreams made real reach out to women at home, at work and in the community, and to the men and the children that share their lives.

Key concepts embodied in this expedition are self-reliance and discipline, strength and determination. It is self-led and with minimal support, relying entirely on human power. (We will use supply drops at the beginning of each legs of the journey).

The challenge requires skill and endurance in a range of terrains, with different travel modes, over a long distance and time. The expedition is deliberately ambitious, raising the bar in terms of what women believe they can do and what the world sees them doing. It embodies the challenge of working closely and intensely with a small group of interdependent people. The team embraces an ethic of working with wilderness, rather than changing it. They have chosen to tread lightly on the earth, with each stage of the expedition human powered, resource efficient and respectful of local communities.

Sharing our story:

The team will reach out to share their story as it unfolds, through social media, photos, films, talks and books. The team will use their voice to promote issues close to their hearts, linked to the preservation of wilderness and its use to promote self-learning, particularly among young women.

The team is committed not just to spending over two months in the wilds of Chile with minimal support, but to taking a world of armchair adventurers with them, to spread a message about what women can achieve, about the importance of preserving wilderness, and about the power of nature to enhance our understanding of ourselves and our world.

The challenges of day to day life are magnified and sharpened in the stories of modern day adventurers. Their journey will be a living lesson in the values of environmental sustainability, resilience and team work. The very nature of the expedition – with members swapping between leading and learning roles – will promote the idea of life-long learning.

The team will be in daily contact with voice updates and twitter and blog posts, sent out via satellite. And the team will cooperate with organisations designed to link journeys in the outdoors with the lives of ordinary people – opening up dialogue about what makes people achieve, teams work and leaders thrive. One such example is Journeys for Learning, a project of Linda Beilharz that connects adventurers to schools, community groups and workplaces.