Tough Girl Podcast Rosie Stancer - Accomplished Polar athlete and explorer since 1996 - described by one journalist as “a cross between Tinker Bell and the Terminator”
Jul 20, 2021
55:07
Rosie Stancer has dedicated the last 20 years of her life to expeditions of increasing severity. Her endeavours have earned her a high public profile in the UK amongst living explorers. On each of the expeditions, Rosie undertakes research – meteorological, environmental and physiological. Data from the latter is processed into published scientific papers with a view to helping both athletes and other expeditioners content with the challenges of their undertakings. Since her first expedition, Rosie has always championed the need for any endeavour to forge a wealthy legacy of learning, sharing and inspiring others. Rosie’s expeditions include: 1997 THE ALL WOMEN NORTH POLE RELAY - First all women team to reach The North Pole, A world 1st. 2000 MILLENNIUM WOMEN’S SOUTH POLE EXPEDITION - Rosie was a member of the 5 women team to reach The South Pole. They were the 1st all-women team to do so. World 1st. 2003 SNICKERS SOUTH POLE SOLO - Rosie embarked alone on a solo expedition of 1,000k with no resupplies & a sledge of 120 kilos to the South Pole. She smashed all previous speed records reaching the Pole in 43 days. (fastest previously some 64 days). 2007 MARS NORTH POLE SOLO - A record-breaking Expedition which had never before, nor since, been bettered. Rosie skied, climbed & swam across the frozen arctic ocean, alone for 84 days, setting another world record as the longest and furthest solo expedition to the north pole by any woman. 2011 Rosie explored the sea ice around Broughton Island in the high arctic, with award-winning photographer, Martin Hartley, in an area densely populated with polar bears. She spent time living with the Inuits, learning their ways of coping with climate changes & the modern-day challenges. 2018 Rosie led her team of women and two ex-military men through the more remote and less trodden dunes of the Wahiba sand. The expedition was undertaken as a training exercise in navigating, survival and cameleering in anticipation of A forthcoming major expedition through the length of the Interior of the fearsome Taklamakan desert in China, the country’s largest giant-dune desert, second in size only to the Sahara. 2019 A sledging expedition the full length of the frozen Siberian Lake Baikal, the largest, deepest and oldest fresh-water lake in the world. This was a ‘Solo’ & unsupported endeavour, undertaken jointly with another teammate but with both starting at opposite ends then ski-ing the furthermost southerly, westerly, easterly and northerly points of the lake. A total distance of some 675 km. The represented the first and longest full crossing undertaken solo by a woman, Rosie’s most recent ‘first’. Rosie holds the Explorers Club Medal, The Mirror Pride of Britain medal and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is Vice President of SES – Scientific Exploration Society. CONTENT WARNING - We talk about the self-amputation of toes with a penknife. New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday and Thursday at 7am UK time - Make sure you hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out. The Tough Girl Podcast is sponsorship and ad free thanks to the monthly financial support of patrons. To find out more about supporting your favourite podcast and becoming a patron please check out www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast. Show notes
- Who is Rosie?
- Being an explorer of the poles and deserts
- Wanting to share stories to motivate and inspire others
- Being inspired by Liv Arnesen
- What Rosie was like as a little girl
- Being brought up by nannies and going to prep boarding school at 7 in Scotland
- Not having dreams to go to the poles
- Being aware of opportunities and going after them
- Applying for the first all women expedition to the pole
- Going though a year long selection process
- Friends and family and what they though of her dreams
- Being supported by her husband
- The advantage of being part of an all women polar team
- Sponsorship and raising funds
- Getting out to the North Pole for the first time
- What people need to know about the poles
- Why the Arctic is more dangerous
- Mental preparation for the first polar expedition
- What’s in your head and your heart and your “ying” strengths
- Gaining mental confidence and mental resilience
- Resilience and flexibility
- Solo Expeditions and being sponsored by Snickers and Mars
- Preparation for taking on a solo challenge
- Working with researchers and academics
- The importance of staying positive
- Being fascinated by fear and how you cope with fear when you are on your own
- How her fears changed whilst out on the ice
- Having a fear of failure
- Why it’s about the journey
- Self amputation of toes…. whilst solo on the Arctic
- Dealing with extreme temperatures of -60 and getting frostbite in her toes
- Dealing with pain
- Getting up full of positivity and optimism
- Coping with isolation
- Dealing with the adventure blues
- How motherhood changed adventure
- Lessons learned from expeditions
- What day to day life is like now
- Future expedition planned for August 2021
- Quick Fire Questions
- Training to be fit like an animal
- Words that Rosie lives her life by
- Final words of advice