Woman with Altitude: Following in the Footsteps of Alexandra David-Neel

In November 2017, with an all-female team in tow, Elise Wortley set out to the Indian Himalaya, to follow in the footsteps of her heroine, legendary female explorer Alexandra David-Neel.

To really understand what it would have been like, travelling through the mountains as a woman over 100 years ago, and to do Alexandra’s daring journey justice, Elise decided that she would use and wear only what would have been available to Alexandra in the early 1900s. This meant no modern trekking equipment or technology whatsoever.

  • Elise Wortley
    Director
  • Emily Almond-Barr
    Cinematographer
  • Lucy McCallum
    Editor
  • WOMB
    Music
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Adventure, Female Adventure, women in adventure, female explorers, empowering women, history
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 8, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Elise Wortley

29 year old Elise works and lives in London. This is her director debut, and she is incredibly proud and excited to have an all-female created adventure film to go alongside her journey.

In 2017, and after many setbacks, Elise finally felt able to attempt an idea she’d first dreamt up 12 years earlier - following in the footsteps of pioneering female explorer Alexandra David-Neel.

These days you can usually find Elise researching and dreaming about the next leg of her journey, walking with a group of women through the Gobi Desert (and you guessed it) with no modern equipment.

The photograph on the left is Elise at the end of the first leg of her epic journey, still two days away from that long awaited shower!

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I’d felt a need to follow in Alexandra David-Neel’s footsteps, ever since I first read her famous book My Journey to Lhasa when I was 16. What I didn’t know at the time, was that her words “I vow to show what the will of a woman can do” were to shape the journey I’ve taken through life, and Alexandra was to become the female role model I needed, that I hadn’t yet found through my early years of education.

Alexandra is most famous for her daring efforts to enter Tibet during her treacherous 14 year trans-Himalayan journey to its capital, Lhasa. With just rudimentary equipment and a disguise she eluded officials, and crossed the border into Tibet. She dyed her hair with Chinese ink each day, and rubbed soot from a cooking pot over her face, disguising herself as a beggar, managing to finally sneak into Lhasa in 1924. She was the first western woman to be granted an audience with the Dalai Lama, and a pioneer in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West.

As many others before me, I was captivated by this remarkable woman and the social boundaries she was breaking. Her sheer mental and physical determination and simple reason for seeing her journey through – to show what the will of a woman could do – motivated me, and helped me to push my own boundaries. Her impulse to leave behind her husband and western life, heading off into the unknown enchanted me and I wanted to understand what life would have been like for her, travelling through the mountains as a woman over 100 years ago.

My aim with this project was to highlight the achievements of women within exploration and to show that women are, and always have been at the forefront of shaping adventure. It was important for me to highlight the roles of female mountain guides, in an industry which for cultural reasons is traditionally a male profession, especially across the Himalaya. I hope that this film inspires other women to push themselves out of their comfort zones and take on a challenge, whatever that may be to them. This is why it was so important to me to keep the whole team female, from those on the ground, to the women producing and editing our film.

Through this project we have been raising money for women’s charity Freedom Kit Bags who supply re-usable and environmentally friendly sanitary products to women and girls in low-income and rural areas of Nepal.