Two female firefighters from South Wales skied from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole in freezing conditions. How did they battle physically and mentally in the white desert and challenge gender stereotypes?
Enduring temperatures as low as minus 41°C, with nothing but vast white horizons around them, the two women pushed their physical and mental limits as they slid across the Antarctic icy desert. Drained and unsupported, they began a 10-day countdown, putting pressure on themselves to achieve their goal of reaching the South Pole.
“We were utterly exhausted. We would empty the tank,” says Georgina. “We can see the pole; now it was 11 kilometers out. This is the last day. We’ve been planning this for four years and now this is our last day. We need to get there. No, let’s just get there. No, let’s enjoy it.”
Two firefighters from South Wales, Georgina Gilbert, 49, and Rebecca Openshaw-Rowe, 42, trekked more than 745 miles in 52 days from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole, aiming to inspire women to achieve their ambitions.
They climbed gradually from 800 meters all the way to the South Pole at 2800 meters, and finally touched the sign marked “Geographic South Pole”.
“It was disbelief. Are we seeing this? It was quite surreal,” Georgina says. “We were exhausted and emotional. You’re so pleased that you’re there because not many people get to go there. We got there. We did a big expedition.”
Inspired to change gender stereotypes, the two women launched their expedition. “We want to inspire other people and be good, strong and visible role models,” says Georgina. “We want to prove that women can do something extraordinary. Gender isn’t a barrier.”
Pulling a 120 kg sled across sastrugi, parallel wave-like ridges on the hard snow caused by winds, and moving 10 hours a day, they had always faced cold, constantly under the threat of frostbite. “If you take your hand out your gloves, you’ve got maybe about 10 seconds before it gets too painful. You really do feel like you’re surviving,” says Georgiana.
It was physically difficult, but it was also mentally difficult. Georgina described the journey as “the groundhog days”. They suffered from the monotony, the missing home. “Physicality is physicality. You can train as much as you can or want for physicality. But there’s only so much training you can do for the mental aspect of it. We might have been together, but for 10 hours a day, we weren’t communicating with each other. So, you’re very much on your own. We were just one ski one behind the other,” she says.
They also got some bad news during the expedition, which made it harder. “When my dog passed away on the 23rd of December when we were out there, that was a particular tough moment. I cried into my ski goggles for that day. I felt guilty,” Georgina says. “You feel like you just want to get the expedition done and just need to get home. But you cannot travel faster.”
At the early stage, they were quite buoyant and excited. They thought it was a privilege to be there. But as the expedition progressed, they started to feel hard. “We talked ourselves through each say, saying we’re one day closer, 25 kilometers closer than we were yesterday,” she says. However, Georgina still remembers that when she got to the sign at the South Pole, she didn’t want to touch it because that means it was the end.
They wore layers of clothing, including merino wool, high salopettes, pulp jackets, waterproof parkas, and collar trim. “It was important not try to sweat because the salt freezes on the inside of your equipment. So when you stop, you instantly get cold,” Georgina says. They also wore a harness nearly 2 meters long, connecting them to their sleds, which carried all their supplies.
They skied for ten hours a day and stopped for up to a 15-minute break every two hours. “We wouldn’t stop for lunch. We ate during the day. We ate dried meat, cheese and lots and lots and lots of chocolate just for the calories,” she says.
After 10 hours, they would stop and set up camp for the night. One of them was outside to make sure the tent was safe against storms. The other person in the tent dug snow and ice to melt to rehydrate their food for the evening.
They also tried to relax and enjoy their evening. They brought a tablet with them and had downloaded some films on Netflix. “We wanted things like that, for maybe an hour, just to try to escape, remove ourselves from the situation because the expedition was extremely hard,” Georgina says.
For Georgina and Rebecca, the journey to the South Pole began long before they set foot on Antarctica. It took them four years to plan, and they had to maintain momentum and train to qualify for it.
“You cannot just wake up and say ‘I’m gonna ski across Antarctica’. We have done X amount of training,” Georgina says. “And there is always the element of uncertainty, lots of thing that are out of your control. Keeping the momentum going over four years was quite difficult.
They trained by pulling tyres at the beach to simulate pulling sleds. “It was designed to be as boring and monotonous as possible because that’s how it would be out in Antarctica. There is nothing to see there. It’s like staring at a blank piece of A4 paper,” she says.
They also trained in Norway and Sweden, pulling heavy packs on mountainous terrain. “That was quite harsh training because we were getting through the physically of it. Nobody likes to do hill after hill after hill, going up and down, up and down,” she adds.
The two women are planning another adventure for next October, The Great World Race, which involves running seven marathons on seven continents in seven consecutive days. “Neither of us are outstanding ultra runners. So, it’s going to be quite interesting. We’re continuing with the visible role model theme,” says Georgina.
Georgina has been a firefighter for nearly 26 years. In addition to firefighting, she responds to road traffic collisions and conducts swift water rescues around the Cardiff Bay.
They also plan to establish the Fire Angel Foundation, where young girls embark on mini expedition and learn to support each other in times of adversity. They also hope to get girls into more male dominated jobs. “We’re still a very low percentage of women across the UK when it comes to the fire service,” Georgina says. “Looking at the broader picture, it’s about getting girls into, not just emergency services, but also the STEM-related jobs, like engineering.”
The project is about building confidence. Georgina adds, “Young women tend to lose confidence because half the time they just don’t see themselves represented. It’s like ‘I can’t do that job because there’s no one that looks like me there’, which is sad times.”
