Issue 8, December 2019 www.adventureshe.com
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From The Editor This is the 8th issue of Adventure She magazine, which means it's survived two whole years worth of issues. I really hope you've been enjoying them and find them to be empowering, educating and entertaining.
and that's what matters, for we are all individuals with very different needs. A few years ago Paula Reid found herself rushed to hospital with blood clots in her lungs. How does an adventurer deal with such a close shave with death? In Paula's case, by choosing to live out her most extreme dream, skiing to the South Pole. Like Judith and Paula, Zoe Pye has faced health issues. In Zoe's case they were the result of a skiier hitting her, a snowboarder, at full force. Her story is a massive reminder of the risks involved in adventuring.
Choosing which stories to include is sometimes really hard, then again, life too can be hard. Yes you've guessed it, we’ve had to hold over a whole load of stories including our UTMB to the March 2020 issue. Despite encountering hard times, this issue's authors have one thing in common, the resilience to deal with the tough times and to come back stronger than ever. After all, we all face challenges in life as we strive towards our goals.
We had hoped to bring you a story about Rita Bladyko's climb on Manaslu, one of Nepal's 8,000m peaks. Alas that will never be, for 50 year old Rita passed away on Manaslu this northern Autumn. The whole Adventure She team, myself included, extend our deepest sympathy to her son, the rest of her family and her friends.
The big question is, how do we face up to the difficulties we encounter? How do we handle our fears, how do we handle change, how do we react if presented with an opportunity? Do we seize the moment, or do we allow a lack of self belief to knock us down?
Enough sad talk, Clare Osborn believes in focusing on solutions, not problems. So rather than worrying about plastic pollution, Clare's article will hopefully empower and educate all of us on ways we can help in the fight against pollution.
Ginny Amanda moved to Norway for a while, to learn skills she needed, to achieve her goal. Here she shares a fun story about dog mushing. So if you fancy having a go, perhaps get in touch with her.
Plastic pollution isn't the only troublesome thing in this world of ours. Sometimes politics and reactions to politicians, bring consequences no one could imagine, some dire, some less impactful but still important. In 1998 I was lucky enough to do the 100 kms Hong Kong Trailwalker. For many in Hong Kong, doing this event is a right of passage. It is also a huge fundraiser for Oxfam. Alas because of the
Judith Thomas has faced reality and accepted she can no longer be the climber and mountaineer she once was. How has she reacted? By reinventing herself as a white water kayaker. Rachel Yaseen faced an even harder decision, one involving her son. Her life now may not be a life that everyone would want or even agree with, but it works for them
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With it being the northern hemisphere’s winter, you may notice a theme with lots of snow and ice articles in this issue. But the pictures that shocked me most, were those Sioned Eleri Roberts submitted with her article on ice swimming. Brrrhhhhhhh. I'm cold eve thinking about it. But for Sioned Eleri, ice swimming brings her calm.
recent troubles, this year it was cancelled. In this issue I share how seizing the moment to do this event the one year I lived in Hong Kong, changed my life. One of the joys of a magazine is the photographs, after all, doesn't a picture tell a thousand words? But what are the secrets to great photography? Professional photographer Rosie Dutton shares some tips with us. Part of her story also includes our quarterly UNESCO section.
If you're interested in joining the fast growing wild swimming scene, the last (but definitely not least) of the articles is for you, for Becki Read makes wild swimming in the depths of winter sound like a lot of fun. So why not check out her group or another wild swimming club. As always though, please do take care and be mindful of your ability and the conditions.
Scoliosis. What would you do if you were in agony and not yet 30 years old? Sandra Dee Owens has been there. Unable to bear the pain any longer, she choose to take matters into her own hands and mile by mile, let cycling and cross country skiing save her. Her story is absolutely amazing.
Finally, I wish you all a wonderful festive season, a happy new year and I very much hope to see you again in 2020.
But what of people suffering in other parts of the world? Mariella Scott writes about ChallengeAid's work with the Schools of Hope in Kenya. It really is amazing how even a little education in health and business skills, can help raise people out of poverty and suffering.
Jane
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Adventure She is published by TNA Consulting Services Ltd, the address of the registered of which can be obtained from Companies House. The entire contents is protected by copyright 2019 and all rights are reserved. Reproduction without prior permission is forbidden. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of the magazine, but the publishers assume no responsibility in the effect arising therefrom, Readers are advised to seek professional advice before acting on any information which is contained in the magazine. Neither TNA Consulting Services Ltd nor Adventure She magazine accept any liability for views expressed, pictures used or claims made. Copyright Š 2019 TNA Consulting Services Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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In This Issue Of Adventure She Magazine
Page 6 – Mushing in Norway
Page 14 – Life After Surgery
Page 28 – The Big Interview with Paula Reid - Skiing to the South Pole
Page 21 – The Way We Live
Page 48 – When Adventure Goes Wrong
Page 54– Adventures in Rubbish
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Page 76 – Book Reviews
Page 64 – Hiking Hong Kong
Page 87 – Adventures With Scoliosis
Page 78 – Photography tips from a pro
Page 100 – What A Woman
Page 102 – Schools Of Hope
Page 108 – Ice Training In Snowdonia
Page 113 – Wild Swimming
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Mushing In Norway By Ginny Amanda
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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When you have a dream that is hard to achieve, a dream which, if you go for it, could easily kill you unless you’re properly prepared and equipped, what do you do? Do you allow fear, doubt and procrastination to kill your dream, or, do you make the changes you need to make, so you have the risks to pursue your goal? Brought up in the UK, Ginny Amanda didn’t have the skills necessary to pursue her goal of crossing the Greenland ice cap. So what did she do? For whilst the Greenland ice cap may not hold the romantic majesty of an expedition to the North or the South Pole, it is still a serious endeavour. Ginny’s plan, to step by step learn the skills she would need. Here she shares with us part of her learning journey, a journey which involved her moving to Norway to improve her skiing and her cold weather survival skills. We also hope that if any of you are contemplating a trip with huskies. This article might also give you a sense of what it’s like.
I wake to the sound of howling. Today light has just crept above the horizon, but often, when an elk, fox or wolverine has disturbed the dogs, then the wake-up call comes before dawn. I'm living and working with huskies in the Trondelag region of Norway. We have 43 Alaskan huskies, all with their own personalities, foibles and tricks. Take Vito, who likes to surprise me by licking my face whenever he can; Prica, who is huge and looks menacing, but with a couple of pats will be lying on his back wanting a belly
rub; or Vianna, who's managed to get loose more times than I can count and enjoys taunting the other dogs by running circles around them. Then there's Bonita, who's pregnant, round and huge - in the next few days she'll have puppies, swelling our numbers further. I came here to prepare for a trip across Greenland. I'll be skiing across the ice cap and needed to get used to the cold, as well as improve my skiing (currently woefully inadequate for a month-long journey). In return for board, lodging and free time to explore the
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mountains, I help look after the dogs and guests that come to stay. I’d expected hard work and blisters, to have all my possessions smell irrevocably like wet dog, and to be so cold my teeth ached - all of which I got. What I didn’t expect was my reaction to the wildness, and the space, to be so visceral. The knowledge that it’s just you, a cattle farm and a couple of cabins this side of the valley. The stark beauty of the winter landscape, mountains, fjords, and forests, sinking into my skin, leaving its mark. Though, in hindsight hearing the
The Big Interview with Paula Reid Skiing to the South Pole By Jane Harries
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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The Catalyst It was another May night in London for Paula Reid, work over, it was time for a game of badminton. Only on this night in May 2012, instead of badminton followed by home and sleep, she ended the day in a hospital bed with a torn Achilles.
How on earth does a person decide to ski to the South Pole? The North and even more so, the South Pole, has fascinated our editor for years. She’s lost count of the number of books she’s read about polar journeys.
Deciding to ski to the south pole after an Achilles injury would be huge. But Paula wasn’t at that stage yet. True the North and South Poles were listed on a bucket list of hers, but at that time, the bucket list was dormant somewhere in the depths of her mind.
Yet she’s never had the grit, tenacity and bravery, to attempt the journey herself. After all, aren’t polar journeys the domain of square jawed ex-army officers, or a few extreme women from the wilds of northern Scandinavia, or the depths of coldest Canada or the freezing wastes of certain US states?
A while after breaking her Achilles, with her foot still in a plaster cast, Paula started feeling ill. For three nights in a row she couldn’t lie down, due to excruciating pain down her flank. Her then boyfriend stayed over to keep an eye on her. One night he saw something in Paula’s eyes that really worried him. He promptly called for an ambulance. The ambulance paramedics did an electrocardiogram (ECG) on Paula which disclosed several large blood clots on her lungs. At 5am she was rushed to hospital.
Seize the moment Two trips to hospital, a broken Achilles, blood clots in her lungs, it’s not really surprising that Paula felt a tad sorry for herself and cried a lot. She now wonders if it was depression.
Actually, the answer to that question is no. Our editor spent a few hours chatting with former teacher, now consultant, Paula Reid, who has skied to the South Pole.
But with time, with her Achilles healing, Paula turned her tears and low mood into something positive, for her troubles motivated, inspired and prompted her to do something significant with her life. The question which faced her, was what would that be? That’s when Paula turned to her bucket list and saw those four big words, North Pole, South Pole. Doing one of those would certainly meet her criteria of being ‘significant’. 29
Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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When Adventure Goes Wrong By Zoe Pye
enture goes wrong
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I first met Zoe Pye when six of us met up for a training hike prior to Marathon des Sables. It was early 2017. Whenever I’ve met her since then, she struck me as someone who was in control of herself and who knew what work she needed to put in, in order to achieve her goals. Imagine my surprise then when she sent me an email with this story. A story of hurt, pain and suffering. It only goes to show that regardless of what people might think of us, behind our exterior, can lie turmoil, doubt, and anger. So next time you catch up with someone you haven’t seen for a while, please share this story with them. After all, it might encourage them to share another side of them self with you. And if they do, please, consider yourself privileged. For when a friend is brave enough to share the tough times, then more than ever, they deserve our respect, our kindness and our generosity. For the record, we still think Zoe is awesome. She might have suffered deeply from this experience, but she has still managed to pursue other dreams and since the accident has successfully completed the Marathon des Sables in Morocco, Ultra Tour de Oman and France’s Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc, as well as work on her snowboarding. So as the new year fast approaches, let’s all take a leaf out of Zoe’s book and when the tough times come, yes we can rest, but the, let’s come back stronger than ever, even if we have been changed. Incidentally, Zoe doesn’t really do much social media, so if you’d like to get in touch, please send a message marked for her attention, via the contact page on our website.
Unfortunately, he didn't miss me, instead he hit me head on with his full force.
The damage that one reckless man can cause. That may seem harsh, but it is how I feel.
As he prioritised his journey down the mountain over the safety of others, my trip, which was a month in the mountains that I had dreamed about for months, ended prematurely whilst he continued skiing with his friends
I had significant trauma to my face in 2016 (and still have a permanent damage); because one man thought, he could ski at full speed towards me, with the intention of narrowly missing me at the last moment.
How did it happen? I was off-piste on a natural half-pipe. No, I am not badass in the mountains. Yes, I am very scared of speed. The natural half-pipe was a
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Adventures in Rubbish By Clare Osborn Kayaking photos courtesy of Evoke Adventure and Kayak Summer Isles Brighton Clean up photos courtesy of Alex Bamford
Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Oh no, not another article on plastic pollution, we hear some of you say. Don’t worry, it’s not. We all know the problem is out there and well here at Adventure She magazine, once a problem has been identified we move on to solution building. So rather than depress you we really hope this article will bring you hope. Since 2015 former solicitor Clare Osborn has been researching plastic alternatives and solutions. She’s worked on several projects including putting together an exhibition of oceans solutions, for an Incredible Oceans installation that was part of a Daily Telegraph Outdoor and Travel Show at London’s Excel and another installation at an event held at the Royal Geographical Society in London. She’s also created a network of experts who are working on a variety of solutions to our current issues with rubbish. We don’t all need to be a leader like Clare and turn our life upside down. But leaders need helpers, and we can all help to some degree. In this article Clare talks about key moments in her journey, the leadership roles she has taken and the techniques we can use to reboot ourselves, when it all becomes simply too much.
The Life Change
is to start on that path and as I have discovered, doors start to open where you didn’t know they existed.
A few years ago my life flipped upside down when my mum spent two months on life support fighting for her life. Plastic saved her life which proved to me that it is not the material that is the problem but the way we use and dispose of it. The experience also taught me about my own inner strength and so I let go of previously held fears of the unknown and preconceived ideas of what life should be.
#PaddleCleanup Campaign I am a scuba diver as well as a relatively novice paddler and like many of us, have watched as over the years our supermarket shelves have infiltrated our beautiful blue planet. Plastic is now so ubiquitous that it is in the air we breathe, the food we eat, in our bodies and our natural environment all over the globe.
So I quit my legal career in pursuit of my passion for marine conservation and for proving that you can live the life you want to, because you can, can’t you! All you need do,
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Training for the 100kms Hong Kong Trailwalker By Jane Harries
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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These days Hong Kong is in the news for very sad reasons. Adventure She magazine has to be non political, as we want to be empower, educate and entertain people across the globe, and that means, staying clear of politics so we don’t get barred by censors. Sometimes though it’s possible to share a story about a place currently facing strife and uncertainty, without commenting on the politics. We very much hope we have achieved that in this article. In 1842 after Britain defeated China in the Fist Opium War, Britain took over the island of Hong Kong. Following the Second Opium War, in 1860 Kowloon being the land opposite Hong Kong island (and from which you now get amazing shots of the Hong Kong skyline), became British. Then in 1898 Britain entered into a 99 year lease of land known as the New Territories. Technically, only the New Territories had to be returned to China after that 99 year lease expired. Instead the British and Chinese governments negotiated and as a result of those negotiations, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, were all returned to China under an agreement whereby for 50 years, Hong Kong would be governed separately from China, other than for defence and foreign affairs, under a “one country, two systems”. On 1 July 1997, the first day when HK was back under Chinese hands, as our editor watched the news on television in her flat in London, she saw Chinese tanks enter Hong Kong. It was a display not just of strength, but of sovereignty. In some ways, it looked worryingly fearful. At the time many expats chose to leave Hong Kong. Our editor certainly couldn’t imagine living there. Yet somehow, a few months later in February 1998 she found herself on a plane bound for in new job in Hong Kong! This is her story of how moving to Hong Kong changed her life, not because of work, or skyscrapers, or city living, but because of the hiking the Oxfam Trailwalker, which prior to handover was known as the Maclehose. Why write this story now? Because unfortunately, one of the victims of the recent troubles in Hong Kong has been the 2019 Oxfam Trailwalker which had to be cancelled. So this article is meant to be an ode to Hong Kong’s Oxfam Trailwalker and is written with the hope that it will be back next year. It is however a long story, so we’ve decided to split it over two issues, rather than gloss over things. After all, none of us change our life through ‘glossing over things’. This issue is about the training, next time, will be about the event itself.
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Photography tips from a pro Words and photos By Rosie Dutton
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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UK has an equal amount of beauty, mystery and a fantastic history to accompany it.
Rosie Dutton is a regular contributor to Adventure She magazine. So far she’s written on how she became a professional photographer and also on wildlife conservation projects she was asked to film and photograph.
I want to share with you some of my favourite photographs of natural history spots in the UK and explain how I got those shots.
Experimentation I’m so familiar with this site, I’ve begun to really experiment with my shots, pushing myself to see what type of images I could achieve. I’ve used long exposures, I’ve taken several images and stitched them together in post, I’ve taken shots with and without people, and of course I have photographed the area at different times of day! I find the best time to photograph is just after the sun has disappeared over the horizon. That’s when the colours start to show amazing and when they bounce back off of any clouds in the sky to create wonderful silhouettes.
Here she shares some tips on how to take professional quality photographs.
When you think of outstanding landscapes and wildlife, the UK might not be the first place that springs to mind.
Equally, on the foggy days, the fog can engulf the area and then it’s hard to see where ocean meets the land. This can completely change the landscape photographed just a few hours before!
Landscape and wildlife photography to so many of us means adventure, wilderness, crystal clear oceans, big predators and phenomenal natural structures; but to me, the
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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Schools of Hope By Mariella Scott
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Adventure She magazine, Issue 8, December 2019
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When you ask most people, what comes to their mind when they hear the word ‘Kenya’; they
Education, education, education. Why is it that so many children and parents in the West, don’t pay more attention to education?
invariably mention Safaris, The Big Five, heading off to Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, slum settlements and the ubiquitous jumping Maasai warriors.
Why is there delinquency? Why, when so many people of my parents’ generation were unable to afford to go to secondary / high school, do so many children nowadays choose to be delinquent?
Kajiado is a town in Kajiado County which is nestled in the Rift Valley, some 50 miles along the Nairobi to Arusha highway. Safaris to the Amboseli National Park and visits to the Ngong Hill sometimes stop there. Visitors might see a typical Maasai homestead, have a photo opportunity with the jumping Maasai and an opportunity to shop for traditional beaded jewellery. But, there is much more to this small town than a pit-stop on the Nairobi to Arusha highway.
Reflecting on my life, if it weren’t for education, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to live and work in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia. What’s more, if it weren’t for additional post graduate studies, I wouldn’t be editing this magazine.
The name "Kajiado" comes from the word "Olkeju-ado”, which means "The Long River" in the Maasai language. The river though is seasonal. Droughts are frequent in this region and you are more likely than not to see the river all dried up and the cattle thin and thirsty cattle. It’s a far cry from Llandovery, a sleepy town in West Wales, which is home to the charity ChallengeAid.
But what happens to those who don’t have a chance to go to school? Mariella Scott, the former grants and marketing manager for ChallengeAid, writes about how that charity is trying to help those, who don’t have the opportunity to attend a ‘normal’ school.
This region is amongst the poorest in Kenya with the Government estimating 47% of the population living below the poverty line. ChallengeAid has been visiting Kajiado since the first School of Hope was opened in East Africa in 2005. A School of Hope is an after-school study club that provides a safe, dry, secure, well-lit and resourced facility for children aged 9-18 year old
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