Icy adventure awaits athlete
What are your usual holiday activities? Snorkelling? Drinking cocktails? Lounging by a swimming pool?
How about pulling a sled 560 kilometres across the Greenland ice vap? Enter Hollie Woodhouse, endurance athlete and keen explorer.
The 34-year-old from Christchurch will travel to the farnorthern country, about 16,000km from New Zealand, as part of the Inspiring Explorer’s Expedition run by the NZ Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT).
‘‘Oh yeah, I was pretty bloody excited to be selected,’’ Woodhouse said.
‘‘It’s not often an opportunity of this type comes along, and to be selected from almost 200 people to go on this is pretty exciting really, yeah, pretty incredible.’’
She will be part of a small team tracing the steps of Norwegian explorer and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Fridtjof Nansen, who first crossed the ice cap 130 years ago. The team set off in early May and the trip could take up to a month.
The ice cap covers close to two million square kilometres, about 80 per cent of Greenland, and on average is more than 2km thick. Parts of the frozen expanse are more than a million years old.
Far from a stranger to adventure, Woodhouse has completed numerous endurance races including the Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara Desert, and the 230km Jungle Ultra through the Amazon Rainforest.
‘‘I was extremely lucky to be brought up on a sheep and beef farm, so the outdoor environment has always been a big part of my life.
‘‘It wasn’t until a bit later on in life that I realised just how big a part it played for me, it’s a real passion of mine.’’
Included in the team is Brando Yelavich, who became a national celebrity after he circumnavigated New Zealand on foot, the first person to do so.
Before her final selection, Woodhouse had little knowledge of the type of terrain she would be facing, but ‘‘Uncle Google’’ helped her get up to speed.
‘‘It looks like it will be pretty flat and walking straight liness, so it will be more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge really, but a challenge none the less.’’
NZAHT executive director Nigel Watson, who will also attempt the crossing, said it was the trust’s third and most challenging Inspiring Explorer’s Expedition.
‘‘Part of the Trust’s mission is to encourage the spirit of exploration,’’ Watson said.
Watson said Nansen’s inaugural crossing of the ice cap revolutionised long-distance polar travel.
‘‘Our own expedition will be the challenge of a lifetime. We handpicked the final four young people from nearly 200 applicants and we are very excited about the calibre of the team.’’
As for Woodhouse’s preparation, she has been dragging tyres through Bottle Lake Forest to emulate the 60 kilogram sled she will be pulling.
‘‘Oh my poor mum, you know, she worries, but really my family is extremely supportive of everything I do and they are very excited for me,’’ she said.
''... it will be more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge ...''
Hollie Woodhouse