Female soldiers who trekked to pole aim to inspire the schoolgirls of NI
TWO soldiers from the first all-female team to trek across the Antarctic are in Belfast this week to talk to women about what they can achieve.
Royal Signals reservist Major Sandy Hennis and Honourable Artillery Company reservist Lance Sergeant Sophie Montagne, who were part of the Ice Maidens world record breaking team, have spoken to more than 30,000 people so far across the UK.
Lance Sgt Montagne said: “Rather than say we went there and did something really amazing, we wanted to come out and say this is what we did — but what can you do?
“We’re not going out there to show men what women can do, but to show women what they can do and that’s our message.”
The pair gave a 40-minute presentation to 100 girls at Glenlola Collegiate School, Bangor, yesterday and answered questions about education, resilience, self-belief, facing fears and dealing with conflict.
Lance Sgt Montagne added: “I think it has been incredible so far, really positive. It’s about going out and achieving things and it doesn’t matter who you are. Go out and you can achieve whatever you want.”
They were part of a team of six female soldiers who skied coastto-coast across Antarctica between November 20 and January 21. The idea was the brainchild of Major Nics Wetherill and Major Nat Taylor, from the Royal Army Medical Corps in Portsmouth. Also in the team were Captain Zanna Baker and Lieutenant Jenni Stephenson of the Royal Artillery. They were not in Belfast as they are full-time soldiers.
The 1,000-mile journey in temperatures as low as -40C was expected to take between 75 and 90 days but they reached the finish point at Hercules Inlet in just 62 days. Without realising, they also set a record for the largest team to cross Antarctica, while raising money for Breast Cancer Care and the Army Cadet Force.
They took inspiration from Felicity Aston, the first person to ski solo across Antarctica without help from kites or machines in 2012. She took 59 days. Major Hennis, who became sick in the first week but recovered, said: “Everything went quite well. We did have a couple of issues, some bad weather, storms that held us up for a couple of days and some sickness, which slowed us down.
“If you’re all perfect and working well together, you can just sail through, but personality issues could destroy a team. We did training and worked incredibly well together.”
They started off covering 13.5 miles per day with eight-minute breaks every 75 minutes for food.
But towards the end they skied up to 27 miles daily, as they avoided deep and deadly crevasses in the ice.
Lance Sgt Montagne said: “We were like, the end is in sight and that first shower — let’s do it. Then we just cranked out more and more mileage and people at home were like: ‘Are you sure you’re going to be able to keep this up?’ But we were just thinking of that shower.”
The team was picked from 250 applicants and whittled down to 50, then to six after three gruelling exercises in Norway.
Major Hennis said: “The conditions in Norway were horrific. It wasn’t that bad in Antarctica, which we found out when we got there.”
But some elements were still tough.
Major Hennis said: “The solitude — even though there were six of us, we were in our own headspace a lot of the time, because you can’t talk to everyone when you’re skiing in a line and the wind noise and everything like that for 10 hours a day.
“On other days you would be fine with that, but then something may be hurting or your legs are aching and those were the hardest parts.”