Trans-Antarctic Crossing: Penguins to Pole

Antarctica. One of the last great wildernesses on earth and a destination that many think they wouldn’t reach even in their wildest dreams. But it’s shrinking – in 2017 sea ice was recorded at an all time low due to rising sea temperatures and in June 2018 traces of microplastics were found in samples taken from the shoreline. It’s time we all started caring about our planet, but how can we when for many of us, we will never get to see somewhere like this with our own eyes? Never get to have a close encounter with a wild penguin, see a whale breach or step foot on pristine land where no one has trod before us.

Looking through history both recent and ancient, the ones who get to go the places like Antarctica on expedition are the privileged few.

That’s where Phoebe Smith and Dwayne Fields come in. Known for their solo escapades they, both feeling under-represented in the adventure world and in the media (as non-upper class, and as a woman and a black man), have decided to team up together to show that anyone – from any background, sex or race – can make their wildest dreams come true.

This is why in November 2020 they are going to complete a world first in Antarctica. They will walk from Beckner Island’s colony of emperor penguins to the South Pole, unsupported and unassisted. But there’s more.