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Inspirational Indeed – Guest Speaker 'Mark Wood'

24th March 2017 @ 6:06am – by Webteam
Back home > News > Mark Wood – Inspirational Indeed!
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This member of the Webteam called in at the Inspired Villages complex earlier this week to hear Mark Wood, Explorer, give quite the most compelling account of his endeavours. I had never considered that 'Coventry' might be described as the 'cradle of exploration' but so it might. Mark Wood, a Coventry chap, and who by his own admission is a walker and not a climber, has honed his previous military and firefighting skills to become one of our country's leading and dedicated polar explorers. Whilst all were captivated by the list of dangers faced during his polar expeditions, it was Mark's capacity for story-telling at its very best that was inspirational to all who were lucky enough to attend his lecture.

Polar exploration was a lifestyle choice for Mark.

So, what common factors underpin and connect the lives of an explorer you might ask. Without doubt the imagery is sensational. Mark's photography of the polar landscapes did not disappoint. His stories of operating in temperatures as low as -50 could mean that the smallest of errors might have the most dramatic of consequences. Mark recalled how his eyelids froze over. He also recalled how he had left his tent for a toilet break and when he turned back he was greeted with a complete white out. On hands and knees, he tried to re-trace his footprints back to his tent – at that moment he learned the very valuable lesson to never again leave the tent without being roped up. Mark also invited us to share with him the dangers of sweat! Moving through polar terrain is exhausting and, of course, generates sweat. Sweat on the body will freeze in such extreme temperatures which, in turn, will lower the body's core temperature and can lead to hypothermia. Whilst there is a desire to keep warm, therefore, it is vital to vent the body's heat.

Perhaps the most surreal of Mark's recollections was during his attempt to be the first person in history to ski solo, unsupported and unaided, to both the South Geographic and North Geographic Poles – consecutively! Crazy you might say, and consider that he had lost 4 stones in body weight between the two poles. Who in their wildest dreams, however, would have imagined that on completion of his solo walk in one of the remotest parts of the planet, that he would have gate-crashed the wedding of a fellow Arctic Explorer – like you would just happen to be passing! Mark shared a glass of champagne with them, appeared in the obligatory wedding photograph, congratulated them and then politely refused the lift back in the helicopter, choosing to remain and enjoy the solitude for another 3 days!

Mark had completed 14 expeditions before he rose to the challenge of 'going solo'. He was ridiculed from within and without the industry. For those present, we were glad he did because to a person we were not only humbled but inspired. His desire to share his storyboard with a variety of audiences and, importantly, to link schools through a platform with which they are increasingly familiar, is remarkable. No more so than on the death zone on Mt Everest – at that moment he linked up with 200 pupils in Australia!!

Just as Tim Peake the astronaut has inspired youngsters by delivering live link-ups to schools from the international space station, so Mark is an ambassador at the cutting edge in developing online lessons and global education (supported by Skype and Microsoft) from some of the most extreme locations on the planet. 'You need to have people on the ground communicating these climate changes from ice or mountain level' he said. 'It's here where I have a role that links directly to the classroom'. Through the Arctic Schools Programme, 'My Life in a Freezer', Mark was able to reach out to students in 40 countries around the globe, entertaining them with tales of his adventures in real-time. His 75-day Everest Expedition was followed in real-time by more than 100,000 students worldwide – including the moment that the expedition was forced to abort, just 500 metres from the world's highest summit! The students were able to fully empathise with that remarkable moment.

Congratulations to Inspired Villages in hosting such an inspirational speaker – a difficult act to follow!
(all images by kind permission of Mark Wood

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