Wendy Searle

Podcast 28 | Ben chats to Wendy Searle

About this episode

Just Get Out The Door

This week’s podcast comes from one of the most inhospitable but beautiful places on earth as we chat to explorer, Wendy Searle.

A mother of four with a busy job, Wendy wanted to show others that extraordinary is available to everyone. She is the seventh woman and fourth fastest in history to ski solo and unassisted from the coastline of Antartica to the South Pole. The 715 mile route took her 42 days, she fell over every day, lost 12kg in bodyweight, had moments of pure elation and moments of pure devastatio, but through it all, she never had a single day off and kept her mantra ’stop crying and start skiing’ close to hand.

It was a really refreshing chat with Wendy. She doesn’t come from a very sporty background. No high level sporting success on her CV and she has never been part of a high performance programme, in a traditional way. Its all come from her drive and her purity of purpose.

We talk planning and logistics, getting up early, dealing with sastrugi’s and skiing through whiteout’s, as well as just being able to deal with the enormity of the challenge and all the curve balls it throws at you without anyone else’s help.

And we started with the question “Why did you attempt this?”

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Show Notes:

Sastrugi – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sastrugi
Pollyanna – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna_(1960_film)
Percy Cerutty – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Cerutty
Robert Scott – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott
Ernest Shackleton – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton
Shackleton Family Motto – Fortitudine Vincimus ‘by endurance we conquer’
Maya Angelou – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou
Atomic Habits book – https://amzn.to/3H8TwYX
Marshmallow Test – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_oy9614HQ
Liz McColgan Podcast Episode – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-ryan-podcast/id1553400216?i=1000528074743
Audible – https://adbl.co/3AFgswK
The Secret Barrister book – https://amzn.to/3o4yiE3
Ben McIntyre Rogue Heroes book – https://amzn.to/3G7trbA
David Mitchell book – https://amzn.to/3r2Pzj4 / https://amzn.to/3u5NWTK
Punta Arenas in Chile – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punta_Arenas
Union Glacier Logistics Base – https://antarctic-logistics.com/camp/union-glacier-camp/
British Cycling Innovation –

Listen & Subscribe to The Ben Ryan Podcast:

Ben’s Website – http://benryan.co.uk/bio/
Apple Podcasts – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-ben-ryan-podcast/id1553400216
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