In March 2013 I will attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest from the South side of Nepal. The expedition will be the third section off my 3 Poles expedition; having already completed a solo expedition to the North and South pole in 2011 /2012.

After the expedition I intend to visit 60 schools within the UK to deliver a full educational presentation event on Exploring, Environmental issues and healthy eating / physical activity. The programme is called MY LIFE IN A FREEZER and is being supported by SPORTING EQUALS  and students from COVENTRY UNIVERSITY.

The aim of the programme is to inspire students to understand our planet and why we explorer – I want to encourage them to think differently about life.

Who is involved in the programme?

MY LIFE IN A FREEZER is a completely flexible programme to suit all abilities and age groups – Primarily this can be scheduled as a one day event, however we can provide an individual programme to suit your school. We aim to reach all age groups; Mark has extensive experience working in a range of schools with students from KS2 to KS4.

During the event Mark will lead ‘My Life in a Freezer’ and is support by two students from Coventry University specialising in Environmental Awareness and Nutrition.*

Lessons

Modern day explorers

Mark will deliver a talk about how he became an explorer and the expeditions he has been a part of – from guiding Top Gear to the Magnetic North Pole to skiing solo to the North and South Geographic poles. With films, photographs and expedition equipment he will show how thinking differently about life can help reach your own goals.

The students will be able to ask questions and handle the equipment, there will also be a chance to find out how he filmed the documentaries in Alaska and the Mount Everest Ascent expedition. He will compare the great pioneers of exploration with modern day adventurers – showing how things haven’t really changed too much.

Understanding the planet – environmental awareness

A qualified student studying the changing environmental and Geography from Coventry University will teach about the areas of the planet that Mark has explored. From Antarctica to the Arctic ocean – crossing Ellesmere Island in the Canadian high arctic to linking settlements along the Northwest passage. Running dog teams in Alaska to guiding teams in the Himalayas – climbing to the highest point on the planet to cycling 3,500 miles across America.

The poles show the damaging effect of Global Warming, but what happens in these regions affect the rest of the planet – we are all connected.

This session will be a journey around the Globe, highlighting the people and problems we face. We aim to raise awareness and allow the students to work through the issues and find solutions – so giving a personal responsibility. By raising awareness we aim to show that by leading by example they can inspire others.

north south solo expedition – 10 Minute version from mark wood on Vimeo.

Well I’ve just had some incredible news – Nepalese climbing legend Apa Sherpa – who is in the Guinness book of records for 21 successful ascents of Mount Everest is to become the PATRON for the Skype Mount Everest Ascent expedition 2013.

After outlining my plans to link with schools and businesses around the world from the mountain via Skype Apa has agreed to support the expedition. Apa Sherpa’s quote is as follows:

The 24 hours of tests that are being carried out at the moment will be repeated just before I head out on expedition in March 2013 and then when I arrive back from Everest a couple of months later. This is an incredible chance to do ground breaking research along side a high altitude expedition: 

Before heading out to the Himalayas in March 2013 I will be posting two educational programmes for teachers and students to follow my journey which will include ways that they can interact with me on the expedition itself. There will also a business programme drawing on comparisons of leadership in the work place to extreme leadership on expedition.

At the moment I am looking at the psychological effects of the solo journeys to the North and South pole working with a team from Warwick University.
Aside from this I’ve been busy going through the best photograph’s from the past expeditions to be included in a book that will be printed in early 2013 by a great company in the UK called Lumejet .

Final plans are being made for filming the expedition to Mount Everest in 2013 . The film from this expedition will then be put together with the footage from the North and South pole journey’s to make a documentary. There are a lot of people involved in the making of this and we are looking at a unique angle to travelling in the extremes.

Next week I will be stepping into a sleep chamber at the University hospital in the Midlands to be tested over a 24 hour period by the Doctors as part of the first phase of three sessions leading up to the expedition next year. Further details of this will be given out soon.

The concept of the expedition is a continuation of the North South Solo expedition to reach (in my opinion) the three poles of the planet. Over the past few years I have set up educational programmes with the help of Skype linking schools en route to Mount Everest with schools around the globe. This ground breaking journey is about remote communication.

Apa Sherpa – in the Guinness Book of Records for climbing Mount Everest 21 times

I will connect visually to schools and businesses from remote areas during the ascent, by creating a wifi space via satellites. This will allow me to speak about the problems the Nepalese people face regarding climate change. I will also invite climate specialist to talk about the shifting glaciers that have a direct affect on the local people and, of course, the rest of the planet.

Students and companies will also be able to talk through the extreme leadership approach to leading teams in high altitude.

The Skype link equipment has already been tested on the 2012 Everest ascent training expedition.  I have already contacted schools and companies  in Japan, Norway, USA and UK, with further tests taking place on the next training expedition in January 2013.

Everest has been climbed before, but this doesn’t mean it’s easy –  climbing over seven thousand metres is still unknown to me. I will train and prepare for the trek, but like all extreme expeditions, Mother Nature will dictate the eventual possibility of success. I will also continue to film the team and undertake Skype links in mountains and villages we pass through. An independent cameraman has been approached to capture the event and we will then work together to put the Mount Everest, the North Pole and the South Pole films together as one documentary.

The reason why I am taking this journey on is to make the link from the extremes of the Himalayas to high climate change issues – to inspire others to understand their own planet and to encourage people to keep on exploring.

As part of the training for the Skype Mount Everest Ascent expedition in 2013 I spent six weeks in September / October 2012 training in the Himalayas. A section of this training was to find remote visual Skype links within the mountains using satellites to create a localised wifi connection. This was tested by connecting to schools and companies en route.

Amongst the twelve Skype links, I managed to speak to a Norwegian adventure film festival, a school in Japan who were affected by the tsunami and a company who asked me to compare leadership in the extremes with business leadership.

The exciting part for me was to link to these areas as we progressed on the expedition, allowing people to follow and be a part of the journey. We crossed crevasses and climbed up to 6184m with the highest call at 5340m.

All photographs were taken by my expedition team leader – Mark Kelly.