Meet Helen Spencer, a veterinarian from Kent who swapped clinic life for the extremes of the world. From hiking in Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Yemen to caring for orangutans in Borneo, Helen has chased adventure across the globe.
In this episode, she shares her journey to ski the last degree to the South Pole, including:
- Training, kit prep, and polar skills courses
- The physical and mental challenges of long polar expeditions
- Coping with loss, vulnerability, and finding strength on the ice
- Lessons in perseverance, confidence, and small steps toward big dreams
Helen's story is a testament to courage, resilience, and pursuing your goals—even when the journey is long and demanding.
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Show notes
- Who is Helen
- Being based in Kent
- Growing up on a farm and having a lot of freedom
- Becoming a vet
- Wanting more adventure
- Working for the charity: World Wide Veterinary Service
- In her free time loving to travel
- Leaving school and travelling with her backpack, and staying in hostels
- Starting to do a few solo and group expeditions
- Hiking in Afganistan, Madagascar, Mongolia, Yemen, Palestine, North Korea
- Recently skiing the last degree of the South Pole
- Building her confidence with travelling
- Earning enough money to go f www.interrail.eu/en
- Having a budget of £10 per day
- Spending time in Borneo looking after Orangutans
- Being a shy, farm kid growing up and being better with animals than people
- Having 5 years at university
- Having a neighbour who had a zoo and spending time helping out at the zoo
- Knowing what she wanted to do when she was 5
- Building internal confidence
- Hiking in Afganistan's Wakhan Corridor
- Why expedition are about the people you meet as well as where you go
- Getting the balance right between being social enough but also having time for herself
- Needing time out and making sure she has her own tent
- Having a 10 day tolerance on expeditions
- Her goal to ski to the the pole in Antarctica and where the dream came from
- Being fascinated by polar history
- A week long polar skills course in Finse, Norway
- Needing a challenge - being in bad mental and physical health
- Taking some time out after selling her veterinarian clinic in London
- Having a year to get in shape
- Training at the Altitude Centre in London
- Not being able to test her kit
- Receiving a lot of help and advice
- Heading to Loughborough Elite Sports Centre to have her fitness tested
- Dr Amelia Rudd
- Heading over to Antarctica and what it was like
- Antarctic Logistics Expeditions (ALE)
- Being out on the ice and why it was like being out on the open ocean
- Pulling the pulk at altitude on the ice
- Why it was a physical challenge but also a mental challenge
- Her way of coping with difficulties
- Wanting to feel small
- Being there mid summer, when the sun never sets.
- Rainbows and halos forming around the sun
- Being able to move forward after the challenge
- Trying to cope with the loss of her parents in an accident, 2 weeks before she was due to be married
- Being in a dark place
- Coping by being on her own and doing physical endurance
- Wanting to be broken down and feel vulnerable
- Getting to the pole and why it was hugely emotional
- Why it meant everything to her
- Kick on
- Fundraising £20K in memory of her mum who had Parkinson's
- Gaining confidence, a bit more self assurance and pride.
- Spending 3 weeks in Antarctica, and skiing for 8 days
- Tent life…
- Going to the loo! Code Brown! Pooing in a bag and packing out your poo.
- The worst bit of the expedition and having to leave your warm sleeping bag
- How to connect with Helen on Social Media
- Final words of advice
- Some dreams can take time
- Taking small steps and trying the thing you want to do
- Her mantras in life…. "Don't be a dick to yourself", "Don't be a dick to others" and Don't be a dick with our environment"
Social Media
Instagram: @adventure_vet_spence
Justgiving: www.justgiving.com/page/helen-spencer-1728903029666
