Helen Thayer

New Zealand born Helen Thayer's life is a testament to setting goals and achieving them. She climbed her first mountain at nine years old. A family friend, Sir Edmund Hillary, became her mentor and teacher of mountain climbing skills. As an athlete, Thayer represented three countries in international track and field. After moving to the United States, she won the U.S. National Luge Championship in 1975 and was a member of the national team. Later in 1990, Helen was the American team leader of...See more

New Zealand born Helen Thayer's life is a testament to setting goals and achieving them. She climbed her first mountain at nine years old. A family friend, Sir Edmund Hillary, became her mentor and teacher of mountain climbing skills. As an athlete, Thayer represented three countries in international track and field. After moving to the United States, she won the U.S. National Luge Championship in 1975 and was a member of the national team. Later in 1990, Helen was the American team leader of the first women's Russian-American Arctic Expedition. She has received many awards and accolades including National Geographic/National Public Radio naming Helen as "One of the great explorers of the 20th Century." The "Outstanding Achievement Award" by the American Mountain Foundation, now the Rocky Mountain Field Institute. Honored at a White House reception by President Clinton as "A Woman who Dared." The "Vancouver Award" by the Explorers Club for "An explorer who has contributed to the pursuit of knowledge and demonstrated the spirit of exploration." The Alaskan Geographic Alliance "The Robert Henning Award" for "Education and Exploration." Wings World Quest "Lifetime Award" "For a lifetime of Exploration and Education." With presentations to audiences worldwide, she has addressed countless organizations of all ages from one-room schools in the Amazon to the Kremlin and White House. At age fifty she began her world-wide expedition career. A partial list of her historical expeditions includes: First woman to travel alone to any of the world's Poles when she skied at age fifty to the magnetic North Pole without dog sled, snowmobile, resupply or support. First woman to walk 4,000 miles across the Sahara from Morocco to the Nile River. At age sixty-three the first woman to walk1,600 miles across the Gobi Desert. Kayaked 2,200 miles of the Amazon River at age seventy. In a unique study of wolves, Helen lived among wolves above the Arctic Circle for a year in a quest to study wolves in the wild. At age eighty, in 2017, Helen became the first person to walk solo, pulling her own supplies on a cart, the full length of Death Valley North to South. She repeated the journey in 2018, with her companion dog Sam. These two treks were the first in a continuing American National Park series of educational programs and videos. Helen can be reached at her website www.helenthayer.com Helen's books have been translated into ten languages and include: Polar Dream, Three Among the Wolves, Walking the Gobi. See less