UKH

Not sure if anyone has posted this but it seems a pretty incredible achievement and only 29 too!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-51151828

it's hardly news that these forums are something of a tw*t magnet, but who the hell gave the OP a dislike? WTF?

I gave your post a dislike because of its unneccessarily aggressive tone. It often ruins threads like this if they get argumentative immediately. I didn't give the OP a dislike, but people have the right to be skeptical of her.

There was a lot of hot air over her everest ascent, where she achieved huge media exposure for a fairly mild achievement. See https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/expedition+alpine/mollie_hughes_aiming_fo...

Solo for 60 days in Antartica is a much bigger achievement, although the record for that route is 24 days. Personally I'm always a bit skeptical about people doing it from Hercules Inlet.

Fair play Dan for saying that. I grant you my reply was perhaps over the top but how anyone could dislike or disparage the achievement remains a mystery to me.

I'm guessing "only 29" wrinkled a few brows?

In a similar vein, an older person did it quicker:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51069985

Not sure what that proves really, but that's UKC for you...

At my age my brows are well wrinkled!

Pretty much all expeditions these days are almost entirely contrived, either in the style or the location. Once you go down the road of "Well I did it solo" "Well I did it from the edge of the ice" "Well I did it without kites" "Well I did it in winter", you just look like a show off. The South Pole is a science base, you can get a helicopter to the North Pole. What is your goal? To prove you can do it better than other people? Further than other people? Quicker than other people? I'm massively impressed by the endurance and skills shown by people like Mike Horn and Borge Ousland, but ultimately they're all just pissing contests. I'm happy for anyone that wants to take on arbitrary challenges, it's fun to test yourself, but there isn't a *right* way to reach the South Pole. 

Yes there is.

The honest way - being open and clear about the details, even the unflattering ones.

Clearly some still struggle with this.

I'm more of a 'pictures or it didn't happen' kinda guy. 

Mollie Hughes is a motivational speaker (her website is titled "Mollie Hughes - motivational speaker") and very much promoting / furthering her career. Personally I don't want to do that by asking for donations for my trips to Everest and the South Pole. And I wouldn't give her any of my money for that

From her website: "Mollie, who secured worldwide publicity following her world-record breaking feat on Mount Everest, will leave the UK in mid-November and return in early January when she plans to conduct an inspirational speaking tour about her expedition.... Mollie’s Antarctica 2019 expedition PR campaign has already begun with huge success, including interviews Live on Sky News, STV, Good morning Britain as well as nation wide newspaper coverage. The PR campaign around Mollie’s Everest 2017 expedition reached more than 600 million people world-wide including appearances on ITVs This Morning, Blue Peter, ITV news and STV, as well as every mainstream newspaper and radio station."

She raises money for cancer research, but my question for you Mollie is - did you pay the costs of these massive trips (and the equipment) out of the donations, or did all the donated money go to the charities? How much did it cost to climb North and South sides of Everest and to go to the South Pole? --- we can guess. The costs were huge

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/make-history-with-mollie-hughes-antarctica-20...

It's the way of the world these days..  whilst I'm not suggesting what she did was easy, but I'd give more credit any spine race finisher. No big prize, no media hype, 99.999% of the population don't even know it exists, but 110% commitment and motivation, that's who should be doing public talks. 

interesting that "he refused accept a food drop to bolster meagre rations in the final days of his challenge because it would have invalidated a record claim."

yet Hughes had a food resupply on her trip.. https://explorersweb.com/2020/01/12/antarctica-two-british-soloists-were-re...

edit so it appears there are two records: supported solo and unsupported solo..

Interesting, the BBC article says she carried all her food, and that only xx other mean/women have done it without resupply. Shoddy journalism?

What about her doing Everest from both sides, is that newsworthy? Do both routes finish up the same bit?

It's ageist news

Many years ago, I was sitting in an orange tent in Antarctica, stirring the pot of dehydrated curry and watching the bearded scientist on the other side of the tent, with some degree of irritation. Which is not very surprising. I had spent the last few months looking at him, as I stirred the dehydrated mush. 

Anyway, over the radio comes the news that the latest headline grabbing, sensationalist, attention seeking, money grubbing, rather attractive looking climber called Rebecca Stevens had just climbed Mount Vinson (which, relatively speaking was just across the plateau in our parish).

'Harrumph' I cried 'what a money grabbing, attention seeking, not a proper climber, media luvvy, she didn't even get there under her own steam, what a crap example of a climber she is'. 

The scientist opposite me looked up from his book and sighed.  'You're just jealous' he said. 

'Bastard' I muttered, as I doled out the portions of mush, giving him one spoonful less.