Everest talk raises £2500 for explorers Mollie talks about her Everest double

The youngest female to ever climb both sides of Mount Everest has raised £ 2500 with a talk at Bathgate Academy for the school’s polar expedition.

Mollie Hughes, 27, spoke about conquering Everest twice and how the Polar Academy experience will help pupils develop greater resilience, perseverance and also teamwork, the qualities she needed to get to the top of the mountain.

Polar Academy team member Alicia Aitken also spoke at the talk, which was attended by 111 people, about what it means be part of the Polar Academy and the chance to develop greater self confidence.

The Polar Academy will see ten Bathgate Academy students take on a 100 kilometre, 10 day journey across Greenland next year alongside pupils support manager Ellis McKay and Mollie herself who will also be going along to help on the trip.

The pupils have been hard at work preparing for their trip of a lifetime and on September 29 the pupils, parents and support teacher Shirley Miller visited the cold chamber at Napier University to have a talk on what life is like in the Arctic and how to keep themselves warm.

The visitors learned about how much they should be eating and what they should be wearing.

Ms Miller said: “In the Arctic, people think they will be too cold, however, one of the most important things is not to be too hot.

“We learned all about clothing and how to cope in different climates before going into the -10 cold chamber with only a couple of layers on.

“One group even took their socks and shoes off, with the fans on to show wind chill, to experience how important it is to have our extremities covered - ears, nose, fingers and toes - as these are the bits which get frost nip and frost bite.”