Winter adventurer Emily Ford to deliver convocation at Carleton College
Ford, who works to inspire others to explore the natural world regardless of race, gender or upbringing, will deliver her address on March 31.
Emily Ford will deliver the convocation address at Carleton College on Friday, March 31 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Ford is a winter adventurer and became the first woman, first person of color and second person ever recorded to complete the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail in the dead of winter.
Ford, accompanied by a borrowed Alaskan husky sled dog named Diggins, hiked for 69 days in mainly subzero temperatures to complete the Ice Age Trail. Her journey was recorded and turned into a documentary, “Breaking Trail,” which premiered at the Banff Film Festival in 2021. “Breaking Trail” has won numerous awards, including Best Short Film and Best Minnesota Documentary from the Frozen River Film Festival, Best Mountain Culture Film from the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival and the Eric Moe Award for Best Short on Sustainability from the Environmental Film Festival. A children’s book based on her adventure, “I Am Emily” by Dineo Dowd with illustrations by Milcah Lagumbay, chronicles her Ice Age Trail expedition and her adventures with Diggins.
Ford featured last year in another documentary, “A Voice for the Wild,” chronicling her epic ski across 180 miles of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Ford used the film, which premiered at the Banff Film Festival in 2022, to raise awareness about the threats the Boundary Waters were facing at the time from a proposed copper mine. Ford has completed numerous other wilderness trips over the years, including the Kekekabic and Border Route Trails in Ontario, Canada and northern Minnesota, and has summited Mount Lindsey in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Colorado. Ford says that she shares her experiences to inspire others, and strongly believes that everybody deserves to discover the outdoors regardless of race, gender or upbringing. When not on an adventure, she is based in Duluth, Minn. with her partner and two dogs.
This convocation will also be live streamed—please register in advance to receive information on how to attend via Zoom.
Carleton convocations are free and open to the public. Find upcoming events and archived recordings on the convocations website. For more information, including disability accommodations, call (507) 222-5461 or email nponder@carleton.edu.