In The Moment 03.2020

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We often hear about the intrepid
travels of men in history, but what
about women? That’s exactly the
question that Elise Wortley found
herself asking after reading Alexandra
David-Néel’s book, My Journey to
Lhasa. “When I was a teenager, I was
shy and I dealt with extreme anxiety
for years. The fact that she’d done this
epic voyage fascinated me. Women
just didn’t do things like that!” she
remembers. “I had this inkling that
I would love to follow in her footsteps,
but at that time, I struggled to even get
on the bus.”
Thirteen years later, having
overcome her fears, Elise decided to
act on that idea and recreate
Alexandra's journey. For her, it wasn’t
just about the travel itself; it was about
reconnecting with our female
ancestors. “I wanted to experience life
travelling as a woman as closely as
she would have done.
I realised that the only way to truly
do this was to do exactly what she did,
taking with me only what she had.
This meant no modern-day mountain
equipment, so with my yak wool coat,
a wooden backpack I’d made out of an
old chair and an all-female team in tow,
I set off in search of the world’s third
highest mountain, and answers to
questions I’d had for the last 13 years.”
And answers she got; Elise’s
expedition was life-changing. “I realised
that the stories and achievements of

history’s female explorers should be

celebrated and never forgotten,” she

says. “I decided to make it my mission

to bring these stories back to life,

hoping to inspire this generation and

the next in the same way that

Alexandra inspired me.”

For her next journey, which took

place last summer, Elise tracked

nature writer and mountain wanderer

Nan Shepherd through the Cairngorm

Mountains in Scotland, also raising

money for Scottish Women’s Aid.

For Elise, looking at the past is the

key to a more empowered future for

women. “These groundbreaking

females took on incredibly hard

challenges at a time when travel

and exploration for women was so

unorthodox, and their achievements

have so often been overlooked

compared to those of their male

counterparts. I hope to raise

awareness of women’s rights in travel,

encouraging others not to be afraid to

take on a challenge, and to show that

women were, and still are, at the

forefront of adventure.”

Read about Elise’s adventures at

womanwithaltitude.com

Elise Wortley is raising

awareness of forgotten

female explorers by

recreating their journeys

WHAT I DO

Taking with her only what her hero,

Alexandra David-Néel, would have

had in 1923 , Elise climbed to Mount

Kanchenjunga base camp and

found her inspiration.