When Barbara Hillary retired after 55 years as a nurse, she suddenly realized how much time she had on her hands. Hillary constantly searched for interesting opportunities to occupy her time – something different than the typical cruise ship full of retirees, she said – but nothing seemed to whet her appetite. After she read an article in an outdoor magazine about photographing polar bears in Manitoba, Canada, Hillary felt inspired to take her camera up to Canada and practice her photography.
“As a natural progression, I fell in love with arctic beauty,” Hillary said.
She began learning about dog sledding, snowmobiling and, most importantly, the North Pole.
Soon afterward, the adventurous Hillary dedicated herself to cross-country skiing – she wanted to reach the North Pole.
“I had never done anything like this before,” Hillary said.
In fact, the ambitious New Yorker had never before stepped into a pair of skis.
“It wasn’t fashionable in Harlem during the Depression to ski,” Hillary said, chuckling. “I was 75 years old the first time I ever tried skiing.”
With the help of a trainer, Hillary began preparing for the journey of a lifetime. The 77-year-old lung cancer survivor said motivation proved to be an issue, but she trekked through the cold winter and adjusted as necessary.
Pushing forward and ready for adventure, Hillary left Newark International Airport for Norway in April 2007. From Norway she traveled to Svalbard, about three hours by jet from Oslo, Norway, she said.
From there, Hillary took a helicopter to a base camp in the middle of the polar region. She joked that many people have a Santa Claus idea of the North Pole, but really, she said, it felt like the middle of nowhere.
In April 2007, Hillary became the first African-American woman on record to reach the North Pole on skis. The trip took 10 days, thousands of dollars and high amounts of energy to the point where Hillary felt overwhelmed.
“At a certain point, there’s no refund,” Hillary said. “Not only don’t you go, but you’ve wasted lots of money and special equipment for this type of exploration.”
Backing out wasn’t an option for Hillary.
Upon her return home to Queens, N.Y., Hillary received lots of press attention and support from the community and all over the country.
“I am proud of my accomplishments,” Hillary said. “I receive a lot of letters from people telling me how I’ve inspired them to look at life differently, to look at their own problems in a new way. I hear from people from all over. It’s very satisfying and very humbling.”
Hillary’s ski-trip story traveled to India, Russia and China, among other places, leaving readers awestruck by the inspirational message. She won the National Organization for Women’s Woman of Courage award, was featured on CNN.com’s Black in America series, and received attention from the Associated Press. Ellen DeGeneres flew Hillary to Los Angeles for an appearance on her show, but the talk show host had to cancel suddenly due to illness.
When Assistant Outdoor Program Coordinator Suzanne Hanlon read about Hillary in the Sept./Oct. 2007 issue of Women’s Adventure Magazine, she knew she had to invite her to campus. This will be Hillary’s first trip to Oregon.
“Barbara’s story speaks to so many different people that it’s easy to bring people together to get excited about her story,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon, who’s worked at the Outdoor Program since 1999, said she never received as much overwhelming support from cosponsors for an event in all her time on campus.
“The neat thing about it is everyone can relate to her (Hillary) on some different level,” Hanlon said. “The thing I really like about Barbara is she reinforces the idea that outdoors is for everyone, adventure is for everyone and it’s not limited by stereotypes.”
Hanlon said many people feel Hillary would be the most unlikely candidate to venture on this quest, often picturing the ideal mountain climber or cross-country skier as an upper-middle class 20- to 40-year-old white male.
University senior Astrid Johannsen, a graphic designer for the Outdoor Program, said she’s worked with Hillary over the telephone and via e-mail to get word to the outdoors community about her appearance on campus.
“Talking with her on the phone, she’s a very friendly, wonderful person,” Johannsen said. “It’s amazing that she did this trek and I’m looking forward to hearing how she went about this and what she’s got planned next.”
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