Hempleman-Adams Keeps it in the Family

It was really good to see that Amelia Hempleman-Adams made it to the South Pole this week alongside her father, the intrepid adventurer David, having skied for 97 miles to achieve her goal.

By any standards this is some achievement but to beat everything the elements and the crevasses the Antarctic threw at her is even more impressive because Amelia is just 16 years old. Mind you, she's not just any old 16-year-old. She has a father who has spent all her life trekking in polar conditions, climbing mountains or flying over them in wicker basket balloons.

My admiration for David Hempleman-Adams is endless. I wrote his autobiography many moons ago entitled "Toughing it Out" and his stories of becoming the first man to walk unsupported to both the North and South Poles, climbing the Seven Summits (the seven highest mountains in each of the seven continents) and reaching other geographical landmarks (the magnetic and geo-magnetic poles, for example) fill me with excitement.

Once David and I spent three days in Spitzbergen pulling sledges and sleeping overnight in a tent. We took a rifle with us in case of a polar bear attack, and used huskies to warn us. While David slept like a baby I was clutching the rifle each time a husky made even as a much as a whimper. I took a bottle of Blackbush Irish whiskey with me for central heating. In the morning it had frozen to produce the world's greatest and most alcoholic ice lolly! Happy days, and happy memories.

I hope Amelia gets to experience many more adventures in her life for, as the great man (whoever he is) once said, the greatest danger in life is never to experience danger.