Feb 12, 2018
On the 16th May 2017, at 4:45am, in minus 35°C, Mollie Hughes reached the summit of Mount Everest from the North side. Aged just 26 this was her second time at peak of Everest, she became the youngest woman in the world and the first English woman to successfully summit both the north and south sides of the world’s highest mountain.
Mollie’s seen the world in ways most of us can only dream of and she has a brilliant tale to tell of her life so far in travel.
In this episode we find out what it’s like to stand on top of the world, why it’s not as good as getting back down, climbing Everest aged 21, find out what is the ‘death zone’, why you don’t want to be in said death zone very long, the very real possibility of dying, controlling fear, the psychology of mountain climbing, bodies on the path, how Mollie is afraid of heights (yes, really), how to cross a 50 meter-deep crevasse, how long it takes to climb Everest, the perils of eating freeze-dried curry at 8,000 feet, what is the best thing about travelling, women’s climbing advantage, Britney Spears (I know), Sherpas, the Himalayas, Nepal, the Atlas mountains, Antartica, expeditions in Greenland, Bonnie Scotland, living in Edinburgh, the Highlands, the Outer Hebrides, castles in Spain, toothless hippies, desert trekking in Jordan, raising money for charity, raising money to fund expeditions, not shopping, believing in yourself, motivational speaking, self-belief versus self-confidence, changing the lives of Polish cleaning ladies, schemes for disadvantaged school children, how travel can challenge and change lives and much much more.