Rose Cecilia "Rosie" Stancer (née Clayton; born 25 January 1960) is a British explorer and polar adventurer.

Youth, education, family

Rosie Stancer attended

Butterstone House School Butterstone House Preparatory School was the only completely independent boarding preparatory school for girls in Scotland, until its merger with Kilgraston School in 2003. History Butterstone House Preparatory School was founded in 1947 by Th ...

in Scotland and then

Heathfield School, Ascot Heathfield School is a girls' independent boarding and day school in Ascot, Berkshire, England. In 2006, the school absorbed St Mary's School, Wantage and was briefly named Heathfield St Mary's School but reverted to Heathfield School in 2009 to ...

. She holds an honorary degree from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...

and is a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

. She is the daughter of Lady Mary Cecilia Leveson-Gower (1917–2014) and Sir Samuel Clayton. Her maternal grandparents were Lady Rose Bowes-Lyon (an elder sister of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

), and

William Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl Granville William Spencer Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl Granville, (11 July 1880 – 25 June 1953), styled The Honourable William Leveson-Gower until 1939, was a British naval commander and governor from the Leveson-Gower family. Background Leveson-Gower was ...

, naval commander, making her a first cousin, once removed, of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. Her paternal grandfather was

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

intelligence officer and colonial administrator. Both her grandfathers died before she was born. On 9 July 1993, she married William Wordie Stancer, with whom she has one son. Her husband’s grandfather was polar explorer

James Wordie Sir James Mann Wordie CBE FRS FRSGS LLD (26 April 1889 – 16 January 1962) was a Scottish polar explorer and geologist. Friends knew him as Jock Wordie. He was President of the Royal Geographical Society from 1951 to 1954. Early life and ed ...

. Her own grandfather, 4th Earl Granville, had polar ambitions too, but was deemed too tall.

Expeditions

McVities All Women’s Penguin Polar Relay 1997

In 1997, Stancer was one of 20 amateur women selected for a place on the first all women's expedition to the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...

, The 'McVities Penguin Polar Relay'. A relay of five teams hauled sleds of up to 150 lbs across of shifting pack ice in temperatures down to minus 40 °C. After 73 days, the final relay group made it to the North Pole.

M&G ISA South Pole Expedition 1999

In 1999, Stancer and four others from the first expedition organised and managed their own expedition to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

, The 'M&G ISA Challenge'. Without guides, and with one re-supply, they completed the journey from the edge of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

to the South Pole in 61 days. Meteorological data was gathered en route and submitted to the

Omega Foundation Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wor ...

Snickers South Pole Solo 2004

In the Austral summer of 2003–4, Stancer skied solo and without re-supply to the

on the 'Snickers South Pole Solo 2004' expedition. Hauling a sledge more than twice her body weight for over , Stancer reached the Pole in 43 days 23 hours, a day longer than

Fiona Thornewill Fiona Thornewill (born 10 July 1966) is an English explorer who reached the South Pole solo and unaided in a record 42 days in 2004, walking and skiing over 700 miles in the process. Background Born in Upton, Nottinghamshire, England, Fiona wa ...

who reached the South Pole a few days before Stancer. During the expedition Stancer gathered both meteorological and physiological data.

Mars North Pole Solo 2007

In 2007, Stancer attempted to become the first woman to trek solo to the Geographic North Pole. She battled record weather conditions and had to self-amputate two of her frostbitten toes. At the final resupply with 89 nautical miles left, she made the difficult decision to stop the expedition because her pilots would not be able to pick her up at the North Pole. Having traveled 426 nautical miles in 84 days, Stancer was still able to set the world record for furthest solo female expedition to the north. This attempt might be a “World Last”.

The Long Haul Expedition 2019

In 2019, Stancer joined Mike Laird on concurrent solo expeditions across Siberia’s

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

, the world’s largest, deepest, oldest freshwater lake. Pulling sledges and without resupply, they traveled solo across the ice using spikes and skis. They traveled in opposite directions, with Stancer starting from the south and Laird from the north. Their routes reached the most westerly, southerly, easterly, and northerly points of the lake, which had never been done before in one expedition. Completing over 700 km in 21 days, Stancer set the record.

Charities

Stancer is an honorary board member for the charity

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 1 ...

GB, which seeks to provide sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-style events for people with learning disabilities.

Awards

Stancer was awarded an honorary fellowship from the Polar exploration society. She also received the Mirror award for bravery from the

and holds an honorary degree from the

and is Honorary Vice-president of the Scientific Exploration Society.