Malaysia’s ice queen Sharifah Mazlina heads back to South Pole – and this time, she’s bringing her proteges
Trailblazing explorer – the first Asian woman to reach the South and North poles – plans a repeat of her 2004 trip, this time leading five women on a 550km journey to retrieve the time capsule she left behind
When psychology student Sharifah Mazlina was seeking recognition for a formula she had created for tackling life’s challenges, her academic supervisor told her she would need to prove her theory in practice.
Never one to do things by halves, Sharifah duly set off in 2004 on a solo journey to the South Pole that would not only prove the mettle of her formula, but make her the first Asian woman ever to have achieved the feat.
“They used to call me the ice queen because I love snow,” says Sharifah. “One of my best friends said, ‘hey, you are the ice queen, why don’t you go to the South Pole?’ It was a joke but I started to do some research.”
Sharifah discovered that since Norwegian Roald Amundsen first reached the pole in 1911 there had, until 2013, been only 115 who had emulated the feat.
“I would be the 15th woman and the first Muslim. I thought ‘that is what I want to do’,” recalled Sharifah, who is from Malaysia.
Apparently, reaching the Earth’s poles is addictive. In 2007, Sharifah made it to the North Pole on foot, again the first Asian woman to do so, and in December she plans to lead the first All-Woman Team to Antarctica.