Celebrating 10 Years of Gutsy Girls: Adventure Women Who Inspire Us
Most people at 50 are enjoying their careers, trying to keep up with their kids and struggling to find a minute for themselves. Helen Thayer was dragging a 73-kilogram sled across shifting Arctic ice with a black husky named Charlie as her only companion, polar bears stalking her every step, becoming the first woman to reach the Magnetic North Pole solo and unsupported.
At 58, she walked across the Sahara Desert.
At 63, she crossed the 1,600-mile Gobi Desert on foot.
At 80, she became the first person to walk the full length of Death Valley from north to south.
This is not a woman who believes in limits.
A Kiwi Born for Adventure
Born on 12 November 1937 on a 10,000-acre sheep and cattle farm near Auckland, Helen Nicholson grew up with parents who gave her a revolutionary message for 1940s New Zealand: “Just because you’re a girl doesn’t mean to say you can’t do what you want.”
At nine years old, Helen climbed her first mountain—Mount Taranaki—with her parents and a family friend who happened to be Sir Edmund Hillary, fresh from his historic Everest ascent. That climb changed everything. Young Helen looked out from that volcanic peak and saw her future: a lifetime of exploration and adventure.
The Champion Athlete
Before becoming one of the world’s great explorers, Helen was an extraordinary athlete. She represented New Zealand in discus at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, then went on to represent three countries in international track and field. By 1965, she was the third-best discus thrower in America. At 38, she won the 1975 United States National Luge Championship.
But competitive sport meant measuring herself against others. Helen wanted something different—to pursue personal goals, to test her own limits, to explore the unknown. She returned to her first love: mountains and wilderness.
The Magnetic North Pole: 27 Days of Ice and Courage
In 1988, at age 50, Helen set out on what many considered impossible: a solo, unsupported trek to the Magnetic North Pole. No aircraft resupply. No dog teams. No snowmobiles. Just Helen, her skis, a 73-kilogram sled, and one black husky named Charlie to warn of polar bears.
For 27 days, they travelled 585 kilometres across shifting sea ice in temperatures plummeting to minus 50 degrees Celsius. Nine times, Charlie alerted her to polar bears. Seven times, he confronted those massive predators directly, willing to sacrifice himself to protect her.
Then disaster struck just seven days from the end. A violent storm destroyed most of their food supply. For the remaining week, Helen survived on five walnuts and a pint of water each day. She refused rescue—she had committed to an unsupported expedition, and she would see it through.
When Helen finally reached the Magnetic North Pole, she became not just the first woman but also the oldest person to complete a solo journey there. National Geographic and NPR would later name her one of the great explorers of the 20th century.
Crossing Deserts and Wild Rivers
Helen was just getting started. In 1992, she and husband Bill returned to the Arctic together, becoming the first couple to reach the Magnetic North Pole unsupported on foot—their 30th wedding anniversary celebration.
In 1996, at 58, Helen walked 6,440 kilometres across the Sahara Desert from Morocco to the Nile River, becoming the first woman to cross it on foot. At 63, she and Bill walked 2,575 kilometres across Mongolia’s Gobi Desert through blazing temperatures, sandstorms, and scorpions.
She also became the first non-indigenous woman to kayak 3,540 kilometres along the Amazon River, navigating rapids and tropical storms through some of the most biodiverse but challenging waterways on the planet.
Living with Wolves
Perhaps Helen’s most remarkable adventure wasn’t about conquering distance—it was about learning to live in harmony with wildness itself. In 1994-95, Helen and Bill spent a full year above the Arctic Circle in Canada’s Yukon Territory, living just 30 metres from a wolf den and observing these magnificent animals in their natural habitat.
Far from vicious killers, they found wolves form loving family bonds and care deeply for their young. Helen chronicled these experiences in “Three Among the Wolves,” offering readers an intimate portrait of wolf life rarely witnessed by humans.
A Homecoming and a Mission
In 1999, Helen returned to New Zealand and walked 1,200 miles across Aotearoa to study Māori culture. For Helen, exploration was never just about physical endurance—it was about understanding people and respecting indigenous knowledge.
“Just because they’re different doesn’t mean they’re less,” she explained. “Sometimes they’re a whole lot more.”
Adventure Classroom: Turning Experience into Wisdom
Since 1988, Helen has spoken to more than one million students worldwide through Adventure Classroom, the non-profit educational programme she and Bill founded. Built on principles of integrity, courage, responsibility, and respect for the Earth, it uses Helen’s expeditions as living proof of what curiosity and determination can create.
Students download expedition journals, photographs, and videos. Teachers bring her adventures into classrooms. Children’s books inspire young readers.
“I want them to say, if she can do it, I can do it,” Helen explains.
Still Going Strong at 87
Helen hasn’t slowed down. In 2017, on her 80th birthday, she began a 212-mile trek pulling 84 kilograms of supplies through Death Valley—becoming the first person to walk its absolute full length. She returned a year later with her dog Sam to do it again.
Now approaching 88, Helen continues setting goals, planning expeditions, and proving that age is nothing but a number when you refuse to accept limitations.
The accolades tell part of the story: named one of the most important explorers of the 20th century by National Geographic, inducted into multiple halls of fame, honoured by the White House under both Clinton and Obama. But Helen’s real legacy isn’t the records—it’s the spark she ignites in every person who hears her story.
Why Helen Inspires Us
Helen Thayer embodies everything the Gutsy Girls Adventure Film Tour celebrates:
Adventure has no age limit. Most of her greatest achievements came after age 50. She completed Death Valley at 80.
Discipline outlasts fear. Helen faced polar bears, survived on five walnuts a day, endured sandstorms and Arctic blizzards. She pushed through because she committed to her goals.
True exploration means respecting what you encounter. Whether living with wolves, learning from Māori elders, or travelling with Berber families across the Sahara, Helen approached every culture and creature with humility and reverence.
Your achievements can become gifts for others. Helen turned every expedition into educational opportunity, inspiring a million students to believe in themselves.
Unsupported means something. In an era of heavily sponsored expeditions with GPS trackers and satellite phones, Helen chose the purest form of exploration: no resupply, no outside help, just human determination.
Helen once said, “My journeys are like life itself. We all have our North Poles and our Gobi deserts, but we can all reach our goals just as I did, one step at a time, never giving up on ourselves.”
She’s walked more than 16,000 kilometres across some of Earth’s most extreme environments. She’s faced down polar bears, survived Arctic storms, crossed endless deserts, lived among wolves, and paddled wild rivers.
Most remarkably, she’s taken every lesson from those experiences and devoted herself to helping others discover their own power.
At 87, Helen still says, “I think I’m still 38 going on 39. I still have many more hundreds of miles to walk and mountains to climb.”
She lives her mantra: “People with vision can live life without limits.”
And that’s exactly the kind of gutsy girl who inspires us.
