In 2019 Mollie set off on her most ambitious expedition to date, skiing solo from the coast of Antarctica to the Geographic South Pole.
29-year-old adventurer and motivational speaker, who was born in Devon and lives in Edinburgh, started her world record attempt at 1.40 pm (Chilean time / 4.40 pm UK time) on Wednesday 13 November.
After 58.5 days and 650 hours of skiing alone in whiteouts, storm-force winds and temperatures hitting minus 45C, Mollie reached the Geographic South Pole on the 10th January 2020 at 8.50 am (Chilean time / 11.50 am UK time) – achieving her second world record by becoming the youngest woman in the world to ski solo from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole.
Listen to Mollie as she shares more about her polar challenge, discussing sponsorship, learning how to ski, coping in a whiteout, and the power of positive affirmations.
Show notes
- What Mollie has done before
- Her desire to go to Antarctica
- The starting point with the plan
- Figuring out the sponsorship
- Creating a “war room” - in the living room
- Being a visual learner
- Being £15k short before the start of the trip
- Getting the final sponsor on board
- Learning how to cross country ski
- Training in Norway
- Learning how to cope being solo
- Her fears and concerns before the trip
- Feeling happy and excited
- Having a degree in psychology
- The importance of having a routine
- Flying over to Chile
- Taking advantage of the small weather window
- The first couple of days on the ice
- Entering an horrendous weather front for 2 weeks!
- Letting her emotions out
- What it’s like skiing in a whiteout
- Getting into the rhythm of skiing big miles every day
- Not being able to get the negative thoughts out of her head
- The power of positive affirmations
- Figuring out priorities and making better decisions
- Supported or unsupported
- Mini challenge for the tribe
- Breaking the record
- The lessons learned
- Heading home and returning to normal
- Quick Fire Questions
- The power of getting started