Episode 3 - Elise
“I don’t want anyone else to not have these women in their lives. It has really helped me, this whole process. I think if they can do that, then I can do this.”
This is Episode 3 in our new Film Series to celebrate the launch of our Women Only Adventures.
Elise Wortley lives in London. But over the last 2 years has been working on a project she calls ‘Woman with Altitude‘. She is raising awareness of history’s female explorers whose adventures have often gone unnoticed compared to their male counterparts. She has been doing this by recreating these adventures and following in the footsteps of these inspiring women without using any modern equipment.
It was initially Alexandra David-Néel’s book, My Journey to Lhasa which first lit the fire of adventure in Elise when she was a teenager. In her book, Alexandra David-Néel recounts some of her epic 14 year adventure across Asia in the early 1900s. Elise felt it unfair that more young women weren’t feeling that same inspiration and strength that she did from Alexandra David-Néel’s story. So last year Elise spent over a month in the Himalaya, retracing some of Alexandra David-Néel’s journey, using nothing more than was available at the time. No modern gore-tex, camping equipment or down jackets!
Elise hiking in the Cairngorms.
We joined Elise this summer as she began the 2nd instalment of her project. She arrived in the Cairngorms and her plan was to follow in the footsteps of Nan Shepherd. A local to the Cairngorms, Nan roamed these mountains, often hiking alone and camping for periods of solitude. She wrote about the beauty of wild land and weather in a variety of poetry and prose. However, her book, the Living Mountain has become one of the most critically acclaimed books on the beauty and restorative power of nature anywhere.
Watch our short film below in which Elise talks about her need to embark on this project and how spending time in these mountains has affected her.
