Helen Thayer

Helen Thayer (née Nicholson; born 12 November 1937) is a New Zealand-born explorer.

At 50, she became the first woman to travel solo to the magnetic North Pole, pulling her own sled without resupply. She travelled on foot, with no outside help. She now lives in the United States. She continues to develop educational programs with her husband Bill, a retired helicopter pilot.

Thayer is the author of ' and Trekking the Gobi: Desert of Dreams and Despair.

She has received the Northwest Explorer's Club's Vancouver Award, and the Robert Henning Award from the Alaskan Geographic Alliance for exploration and education.

Accomplishments

• Traveled alone to the magnetic North Pole accompanied only by her polar bear dog, Charlie
• Walked across the Sahara Desert, following an ancient 4,000-mile trade route
• Walked 1,600 miles across the Mongolian Gobi Desert
• In two expeditions, she kayaked 2,200 miles in the Amazon
• Lived alongside a wolf den for over six months and traveled the Canadian polar sea to study wild wolves for one year
• An internationally acclaimed motivational speaker
• An accomplished high-altitude mountain climber
• Represented three countries (New Zealand, Guatemala, United States) in international track and field
• United States National luge champion

Awards

Thayer was honored by the White House and the National Geographic Society, and named "One of the Great Explorers of the 20th Century" by National Geographic and NPR. She was also inducted into the Snohomish County, Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

External links

• Helen Thayer's web site
• Biography at HistoryLink
• "'Most Important Explorer' Helen Thayer to Appear in Knoxville". Metro Pulse. 2009-05-06. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-06. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• West, New. "Explorer Helen Thayer in Missoula To Speak About Change in the Gobi | Peter Metcalf | Missoula | New West Missoula". Newwest.net. Retrieved 2012-07-06.