Antarctic Fire Angles
An Unforgettable Journey: First 999 Emergency Services Team to Ski to the South Pole
Inspired by a female explorer from the British Army Ice Maidens, a team of firefighters, set out to achieve a similar feat – skiing to the South Pole. Their motivations stemmed from their desire to inspire generations, challenge stereotypes, and redefine what it means to be a girl.
Background:
I was born in South Wales in March 1974. I learnt to ride (horses) when I was 4 years old and something I continued into adulthood. So being outdoors and adventurous was a perfectly natural environment for me to be in!
This innate love for exploration would later lead me on an unforgettable journey to the South Pole:
Five years ago, while attending a Women in the Fire Service Conference, I was captivated by the keynote speaker, a female explorer from the British Army Ice Maidens team. Inspired by her story I took it a step further and approached Sophie afterwards and asked her if an expedition similar to theirs could be achieved by a bunch of fire fighters who can’t ski! She said: “ABSOLUTELY” and we exchanged phone numbers. This chance meeting marked the beginning.
However, the key message was our reason for going - to inspire generations, challenge stereotypes, and change the narrative of what it means to be a girl.
Preparation for the Expedition:
Preparation took 4 years. Training was in cold environments, and we didn’t have the budget to chase the snow around the globe, so we were restricted to seasonal cold weather training in Norway and Sweden. In these countries, we learnt to ski, survive and deal with cold climate situations, everything we needed to prepare for Antarctica. Fundraising was the hardest thing, there is no formula or best way, it's just every way you can to contact a company, do it!!! Make connections and chase. Trust that someone would believe in you and the team and sponsor the team. It wasn’t until the final few hours before liftoff from Heathrow that we learnt the final sponsor had completed. Supplies and equipment we bought over the 4 years, adapting and changing kit combinations as we went along. It wasn’t until the month before we left that Shackleton offered to support us with their female specific pulk suit.
Highs and Lows of the Expedition:
The highs were amazing, from the feeling of absolute privilege to be in one of the most beautiful and protected places on the planet to the utter monotony of getting up every morning to ski yet another 10 to 12 hours of skiing. There were 2 things that got us through the most challenging moments - The thought of letting everyone down who’d supported us, sponsored us and believed in us. And secondly, there were 2 options, get up and ski knowing that we would be 25km closer to the pole every day or stay put - no one was coming to get us, it was ski or stay there for the duration! The terrain was just that, absolutely nothing we could do about it, the sastrugi (features formed by erosion of snow by wind) was annoying and a hindrance but also something to be mesmerised by. The sheer size of some the sastrugi left us dumbstruck at times! The weather was variable. From stunning sunshine to spending days at a time in white outs and flat light. We estimate we had around 50/50 of each.
Physical and Mental Toll:
The physicality of the expedition was immense, 10 hours a day, burning between 8000 and 10,000 calories a day but only consuming 5500 calories per day. We lost 10kg (George) and 14kg (Bex) over the 52 days despite putting weight on deliberately at the start. In the last 2 weeks of the expedition, we would say to each other in the tent at the end of the day “I just don’t know what's fuelling me right now” . It certainly wasn’t our rations as that was going to keep vital organs functioning! Mentally, it took its toll on both of us, but we never thought that we wouldn’t make it to the pole. The thought of letting people down was just awful, unbearable in fact. And the reason for doing this expedition was the one thing that kept us motivated to keep going and finish what we’d planned for 4 years.
Wildlife and Natural Features:
There is no liquid water that far in land so there was no wildlife at all. We encountered a few wild humans at Union Glacier though!! The mountains were enormous!! In the UK you can easily walk past a mountain in a day. On Antarctica, it would take 4 or 5 days to ski past one prominent looking peak! However, once you climb on to the polar plateau, it is featureless, no mountains or peaks, just endless sastrugi. It didn’t seem to matter if we had mountainous features or the plateau, it made us feel very small indeed. The feeling of being swallowed up by the shear expanse was humbling.
Celebrating Arrival at the South Pole:
Upon arriving at the finish line we hugged, pure and simple. It was a very special moment and I wouldn’t say celebrations were immediately on our minds but, we knew we were looking forward to some fresh cooked food, fresh fruit and a beer or two! There were mixed emotions, relief, excitement, pride, sad that it was ending but so pleased that it was! I remember saying to Bex as we approached the pole, after 4 years of planning, we have 10 mins left to take the final moments in!
Lessons Learned:
Somethings we learnt along the way was learning that your “stuff” is no more or less important than other people’s “stuff” and to find out what exactly you’re willing to put your body through to achieve a common goal and to not let all the people down that have supported us, stood by us, believed in us. Teamwork is often overcomplicated, we found the key to great teamwork is to let things go, don’t internalise any gripes because this just leads to frustration. In an environment that is unforgiving, shows you no respect or love and changes in seconds, it’s so important to not sweat the small stuff and chat through what's bugging you. 10 mins later, its done, all behind you and sorted.
Resilience and our own limits - I think we shocked ourselves into a whole new depth of limits. Incredibly hard to describe, but you just do it! No one is coming to get you so just get up and ski!
Advice for Aspiring Explorers:
Absolutely do your homework and take advice from others who’ve actually done something similar. I would also say that if you’re a woman heading out to do something extreme, then try to find another woman for advice on how they did it. There are the obvious differences, but also subtle ones so do the research and make an informed decision that's best for you!
Specific preparations for us were tyre pulling on the physical side. I’m peri-menopausal so for me personally, I wish I’d sorted my HRT out before the expedition. At times it was a bit of a roller coaster and think it added to the exhaustion!
Consider having a personal trainer, sometimes just the thought of having that external support can make a huge difference on whether you head out the door or not when the weather is bad, and you can’t shake off the duvet!
And lastly, just remember that everything is temporary, from the emotion that you feel is hindering you to the actual expedition itself. You’ll be home soon enough and looking back wishing you’d try to enjoy every moment just a little bit more!
Words of Wisdom:
Start by believing in yourself. It doesn’t matter what the doubters think or say. Just know that you are an inspiration to someone somewhere, you may know them, never meet them or live next door to them. By doing something amazing you will be that role model to someone who may struggle with low self esteem, doesn’t believe in themselves.
Be the person YOU needed when YOU were growing up.
- George & Rebecca
To continue following our explorer’s the Antarctic Fire Angles journey or simply want to reach out and say Hi, you can connect with Antarctic Fire Angles on the following accounts:
Antarctic Fire Angels | Ordinary Women, Doing Extraordinary Things - This website includes all of their social media, email and other contacts.
