Laurence de la Ferrière

About Laurence de la Ferrière

Laurence de la Ferrière was born in Casablanca, Morocco. At twenty years, she discovered the high mountain and then surrenders to the flute and medicine to conquer the highest peaks of the world before committing themselves to exploring the Arctic and Antarctic.

On 23 November 1999, Laurence de la Ferrière leaves for going to the south pole. Her only equipment is a pair of skis and sails, and the only links to civilization is a satellite phone and an Argos beacon. As she is harnessed to her kidneys, she has a 140-kg sledge containing what sustenance which is her total autonomy. Before her, the expanse of white landscapes is all she sees, a land where no plant or animal life is possible, and nearly 3,000 km to go in temperatures as low as - 50 ° C.

Among her greatest achievements as explorer and adventurer are the conquest of reaching the top of the Kangchenjunga (8505 meters) in 1984 where she achieved the women’s world record altitude without oxygen. In 1984 she conquered the Annapurna (8091 meters) in Nepal, in 1991 she explored Eastern Siberia on ice with a dogsled, in 1992 she conquered the Mount Everest and obtained the women’s world record altitude without oxygen and in 1994 she conquered the Aconcagua of 7012 meters in Argentina.

In the year 1999 and 2000 she did the first solo crossing of Antarctica, from the Southpole through Dome C. A world’s première, she is the first and only women in the world to have fully crossed the Antarctica.