AUGUST 2017AWW.COM.AU 57
[ Adventurer]
F
or almost a month, on skis nine hours
a day, Jade Hameister dragged an 80kg
sled across the icy wilds of Greenland,
every part of her body screaming with
pain. She had persistent nosebleeds,
blisters on her feet, and the beginnings of
frostbite on her backside. Every muscle ached,
yet she battled on through sometimes ferocious
winds, at one stage climbing over the chaotic
surface of a steep, slippery icefall, all the while
hauling precious supplies heavier than herself.
“You just have to keep going,” says Jade, back
in her family’s bayside Melbourne home after
becoming the youngest woman to trek across
Greenland, covering 550km in 27 days. “Out
there you have nothing, just that voice inside
your head – and you can actually learn from
it if you listen to it.”
That inner voice, which continually told her
to “just do it”, has become louder and more
powerful the deeper she gets into her polar
mission. The goal? To become the youngest
person in history to pull off the polar hat-trick,
skiing to the North Pole, crossing Greenland
(the world’s second-largest icecap after
Antarctica), and skiing to the South Pole.
In April 2016, at the age of 14, Jade knocked
off part one of her quest – an 11-day, 150km
expedition – becoming the youngest person to
ski to the North Pole from anywhere outside
the last degree, then completed the Greenland
crossing this year on June 4, the day before
her 16th birthday.
The records are nice, she says, but they are
not her main motivation. So why do it?»Two down, one to go.
Melbourne schoolgirl
Jade Hameister has
achieved so much in
her 16 years – skiing to
the North Pole and
crossing the icy wilds
of Greenland. Now,
Susan Horsburgh
reveals she is ready for
a polar hat-trick – skiing
to the South Pole.
Jade battled the
elements to become
the youngest woman
to cross Greenland.