Jade Hameister OAM

Jade is a 19 year old student from Melbourne, Australia.

At age 12, Jade completed the trek to Everest Base Camp and was inspired by two women she befriended on that trip – one who had previously skied to the South Pole solo and the other who had been the first woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen.

This inspiration led Jade to undertake her own quest.

In April 2016, Jade became the youngest person in history to ski to the North Pole from anywhere outside the Last Degree. That year she was recognised by Australian Geographic Society as Young Adventurer of the Year.

Her journey was captured in a National Geographic documentary that aired in 170 countries.

She delivered a TEDx Talk in August 2016 and in early 2017 presented to a combined live audience of over 12,000 students at ImagiNATION in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

In June 2017, Jade made history again by completing the 550km traverse of the Greenland icecap unsupported and unassisted – the youngest woman ever to do so.

In January 2018, Jade completed her polar quest and in the process became the youngest person to ski from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole unsupported and unassisted, the first Australian woman to do so, among the first women to set a new route to the South Pole unsupported and unassisted, the youngest to both Poles and the youngest to complete the Polar Hat Trick.

Her expeditions were captured as part of a National Geographic feature length documentary, released mid-2018.

In the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Jade was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to Polar Exploration.

Jade is passionate about shifting the focus for young women from how they appear to the possibilities of what they can do and also about raising awareness about the impact of climate change on the Earth’s beautiful and fragile polar regions.