Beyond the boy's club: The women at the frontier of adventure

From ice swimming to desert crossings, these explorers are redefining what modern adventure – and modern adventurers – look like.

For generations, the archetype of the explorer has been male: Shackleton in the Antarctic, Hillary on Everest, Chatwin crossing deserts. But modern exploration looks different. 

While history celebrates female adventure pioneers like Amelia Earhart, Nan Shepherd, Adela Breton and Junko Tabei, a new generation of women is reshaping exploration in real time. They are mountaineers, ice swimmers, conservationists, ultrarunners and filmmakers. They are crossing deserts on foot, paddling oceans solo, documenting disappearing ecosystems and reframing what it means to move through extreme landscapes. Increasingly, the emphasis is not on planting a flag, but on purpose, mindset and impact. 

For International Women's Day, we're spotlighting seven women who are breaking boundaries right now, from record-breaking endurance feats to conservation-led expeditions.

Hazel Findlay: Professional rock climber

Findlay is one of the UK's most accomplished traditional climbers, known for her thoughtful approach to fear, risk and mindset in high-consequence environments. In 2011, she became the first woman to climb a British E9 trad route. She later became the first British woman to sport climb 8c and one of the first British women to climb 9a, one of the hardest grades in the world at the time. She has free-climbed El Capitan in Yosemite four times and established first ascents in countries around the world, including big walls in Greenland and Oman.

Alongside her climbing career, Findlay founded Strong Mind, a company that helps climbers build confidence and resilience. Using her decades of experience, she coaches climbers of all abilities on facing their fear of falling, fear of failure and performance anxiety, empowering more people to take on climbing in the great outdoors safely and with joy.

Alice Morrison: Explorer, TV presenter and author

Morrison recently became the first recorded person to cross Saudi Arabia from north to south on foot. Over 112 days, she covered 2,195 km – around half a marathon a day – navigating sandstorms, headwinds and remote terrain. Along the way, she crossed landscapes layered with history, from ancient petroglyphs to Stone Age tombs, and through communities undergoing rapid cultural change.

She is also the first woman to walk the Draa River in Morocco and has cycled 12,000 km from Cairo to Cape Town in the Tour D'Afrique, the longest bike race on Earth. Other adventures include taking on the notorious Marathon des Sables, running around Everest, hiking the length of Jordan and climbing Mount Elgon, an extinct volcano in Uganda.

Many of Morrison's journeys involve long-term immersion; a 7.5-month trek across Morocco and the Sahara saw her travel north to south with six camels and three Amazigh guides. Morrison says that she wants to bear witness to what is happening to the planet as our climate and societies change, and tell the stories that bring us together rather than the ones that drive us apart. Through her books, podcast and BBC series, she documents these encounters with local communities along with the realities of endurance........

© BBC