“Louis and I will work as a team. I can’t put up a tent efficiently with one arm, but I can melt snow for food. We’ve trained together for months, so we have our routines dialled. Louis wants to teach me how to operate and thrive in that environment.”
MARTIN HEWITT
ADAPTIVE GRAND SLAM
FOUNDER
Martin Hewitt served for eight years as a commissioned officer in the Parachute Regiment and was deployed on operations around the world. He worked on operations and training exercises in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America. Whilst leading his men in combat in Afghanistan, Martin sustained life changing injuries resulting in the paralysis of his right arm and ending his military career. After his injury, Martin focussed on establishing the Adaptive Grand Slam (AGS), seeking to tackle the greatest challenges known to mankind. The AGS has so far seen Hewitt summit five of the seven tallest peaks on every continent and trek to the North Pole, to inspire others with life-long injuries and disabilities.
LOUIS RUDD MBE
SHACKLETON
DIRECTOR OF EXPEDITIONS
Louis Rudd MBE is a record-breaking polar adventurer, former Royal Marine Commando and SAS soldier. He is the first and only person to have traversed Antarctica twice using human power alone and has reached the South Pole three times from different coastal starting points. Louis has covered more than 3000 polar miles on skis, with multiple extreme cold-weather tours in Northern Norway with the special forces. He has guided expeditions on a 1100-mile crossing of Antarctica and a 350-mile crossing of Greenland. He is also a military Arctic warfare instructor, a military ski instructor, a qualified army patrol medic, and a military snowmobile instructor, with additional training in crevasse and avalanche rescue. A member of the Explorers Club and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Louis has written of his journeys to date in his autobiography ‘Endurance’.
WENDY SEARLE
SHACKLETON
EXPEDITION MANAGER
Wendy is a polar explorer with experience in Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica. In 2020, Wendy became only the seventh woman in history to complete a solo, unsupported journey from Hercules Inlet to the geographic South Pole. She has also completed a full traverse of Greenland and trained extensively in Finse. In addition to her own trips, Wendy has extensive experience in planning and managing other major expeditions – she was the expedition manager for Louis’ record-breaking Spirit of Endurance Expedition in 2018 and will be expedition manager for Adaptive Antarctica.
// FOLLOW THE CHALLENGE //
A live map will be available when the expedition starts, currently scheduled for the 14th November.