Busy in Greenland... finally!

What a wonderful feeling this morning to board the Air Greenland plane! Finally I am on my way.

I met Per-Thore in Copenhagen yesterday night and shared a nice meal in the hotel. Then I went to my room and went through all my bags about 20 times.. (no, I am NOT AT ALL stressed...), and finally went to bed knowing that I was as well organised as I will ever be!! This morning after a nice breakfast, we boarded our plane and had a very nice flight to Kangarlussuaq. It was cloudy over Iceland and also half way over Greenland. We met Petter at the airport (a very grand name for this dump), and went to our lodge (absolutely nothing whatsoever comparable to the wonderful Tordrillos lodge..).
There I found my sleds (Petter made a nice cover with my charity and sponsor), harness, skis, shoes and all the equipment I left with Petter. We spent the afternoon packing everything in million of bags and distributing them in the sleds. I have a bag in which I have packed 7 smaller bags with all my food for 1 day), another bag with spare clothes and medicines, another one with my valuables, and my "tent" bag which has all everything I need in the evening and night in 5 bags (washbag, pegs, journal, IPod and my bag of surprises and letters... Yeah!!....)

Valerie (my daughter) made me laugh so much yesterday as she gave me a "courage" bracelet with a card with the following message "I don't do silly mistakes, just very very clever ones!!!" I loved it. Of course she did not buy it in reference to my challenge, but because she knew it would make me laugh and she was right. I burst out laughing in the plane causing some people to look at me a bit strangely!

Petter is trying to come to grips with the beautiful Nikon camera. He has some problems with the sound and the quality of the image.
I have problems downloading my blog from the internet! Well I will try to sort it but I have the feeling that the solution will most probably involve the lovely Lucy at Children in Crisis!

BIG NEWS!! We are leaving tomorrow and not Monday. We have finished everything and got all the autorisations. So why wait? I am really happy and can't wait.

Next time you will get some news from me, I will be on the ice!!
Lots of love to you all!

Sabine
www.extrememother.blogspot.com

Almost gone!

So tomorrow is the big day!! My bags are packed. I rushed through a pre-royal wedding London this afternoon to find extra Nikon batteries, a good lapel microphone and some biltong, and almost went mental!! The traffic was absolutely crazy and to make matters worse, my taxi could not find anything better than to drive... in front of Buckingham Palace and down the Mall!! Suicidal.... When I asked him why he did this, he enquired if I knew London well!!!!!..... (grrrr.... do I really have SUCH a strong French accent????). You should have seen his face when I replied that I've been living here for the past 25 years.. Ha! ha!

But I am not going to let myself get too upset by this as I had two wonderful news today which made me soooooo happy, one regarding sponsorship, the other regarding Corsica.

Tonight, thinking about it all, I must say that I feel really blessed with my life. Not only because I was born in a loving family from educated parents and in a peaceful country (quite a lot of advantages over the children I want to help with this challenge... but also because of my wonderful friends!

First with my wonderful family. 

My children have always been the greatest source of joy to me. 

They are simply too good to be true. Too many qualities to name here. 

Then my parents who were always very supportive have become even more so recently. My mother has written the most touching messages to me and I love it. 

Klaus who is a wonderful family man and a great father, has really touched me with his generosity. 

And then with my friends. 

The one I knew well and knew I could count on and who have supported me since I started those fundraising challenges long ago.

The others that I know less well, but who have turned out to be equally amazing! Sponsoring me since day one and sending me messages of support.

Like the man who I don't know but who is a friend of a friend and who has sent me messages since the beginning of my blog and who today sent me the most amazing song on children!

Or, the very recent friend who has sponsored me very generously and who writes witty messages of encouragement.

The family who has decided to give me a sustantial donation from their family trust,

The ones who can't give me any money but who write, give useful advice and pray for me and are really touching with their  thoughtfulness,

All of those who have sent me a mail with a surprise attached to it, so that my children could print it and put it into an envelope

Roxy and Lucy's lovely dogjogger who brought this amazing chocolate to my house so I could take it with me to Greenland,

My chiropodist who had a card made specially for me.

Emma my expedition doctor who came all the way to my house to deliver her surprise card,

Sophie who gave me a good luck bracelet,

All the people at CIC and RTP as well as Antonia who work so hard for my campaign, 

And all the others too numerous to name who have given me wonderful memories to take with me.

I will not be bored pulling my sled as I will be thinking of each and everyone of you and it will bring a smile to my face (too bad for the wrinkles...) as it always does. I just wanted to say a big 

thank you 

and let you know that you are the most wonderful friends and that I was very lucky the day that my path crossed yours and I hope that  I will be able to transfer the energy, love and support you give me to the children I thrive to help and whose lives I would like to improve!

My schedule

I am planned to leave London for Copenhagen on Friday afternoon, the day of the Royal wedding!! By the time I board my plane, Kate Middleton will be reborn as Princess Catherine. On Friday night I will meet up in Copenhagen with Per-Thore and we will fly to Greenland on Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon will be spent going through all our equipment, food and clothes. On Sunday we have to show everything to the authorities in Greenland and get formal approval to start the crossing. They really want to make sure that we are very well prepared and that the chances of having to do a Search and Rescue operation for our group is reduced to a minimum. 

And on Monday, off we go! 

I do not know until when we will have phone contact from then on, but our satellite phones will work. I will try to update my blog as often as I can, but was already warned that emails don't work all the time. I'll do my best. I should fly back to London on May 26th.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who gave me or sent me a surprise to take with me across Greenland, or who simply wrote the most lovely and encouraging messages and mails. It made me quite emotional. I think that I will have enough surprises (but please don't stop sending them, I need your support) to open at least an envelope everyday if not many more while listening to some beautiful music wrapped in my warm Tordrillos jacket. Doesn't it sound like heaven?! I WILL really look forward to my evenings in the tent... And if I slack during the day, I even have plenty of workout playlists to help me keep a steady rhythm... 

All of this will bring back to me some of the most wonderful and happiest memories of my life, of loved ones and great friends, and will  give me strength and warmth. I am going to miss you all so much, but you will be with me in my thoughts, and I look forward to put back on the weight while boring some of you to death with my stories over lunch or dinner for many many months to come!! 

I will end here with the very encouraging quote from Bernard Pivot that my mother sent me when I told her that I doubted my physical fitness: 

"the body is so famously proud and vain that it doesn't want to forfeit its owner while an important game is being played". 

(in French: "le fameux orgueil du corps qui ne veut pas lacher son proprietaire quand se joue une partie importante")

Hopefully, it is true!!

3 days to go!!

I finally uploaded Petter's little movie on You Tube so that the few of you who don't have Facebook can also have a laugh!

Here is the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZz8fxLSU9k

I can't believe how time flies!! I am going to go to the gym this morning as I feel so unfit. Then I have to go and try to find the few items which are still missing. An IPod, beef jerkies (difficult to find here but I have seen signs for a South African butcher near Richmond Park and will go there), and some of Tesco's delicious trail mix. I will start packing tonight and I don't know how everything will fit in my bag. Thank God, I have two big sleds in Greenland...

I wonder what will go through my mind during the trip as I will have 9 hours per day where I will be in my bubble (knowing me it will be less as I am such a chatterbox and poor Petter and Per-Thore will have to listen to my constant bla, bla, bla....). Until now, I must admit that a certain anger has been a very efficient fuel during my past challenges, especially trekking. The less happy I was in general, the faster I walked. That way, I had to concentrate so hard on where I put my feet that I could not think too much about my life... 

But, I also always wanted to write a book. Will the inspiration come on the ice cap (or will I have to go to the South Pole or to some other lost place for that)? I also have a zillion ideas for setting up a charitable structure to help children and animals. Maybe I will be able to sift through all of those and come with a workable plan. After all, I have two solid, no-nonsense men with me for 3 weeks and they will be able to make me think realistically. All inequalities in this world really make me angry, but even more so when it affects children and their education. It is a reality, but I find it an injustice, that good education is very expensive and that a lot of good parents with clever children just can't afford it. Shouldn't our taxes cover good education? 

Maybe I just found the anger which will fuel me on the ice!!! 

I might do the crossing in 1 week........

Greenland reality TV style!

A TV company (I don't want to say the name as I don't want to jinx it...I know it's silly, but that's me!) has come back to me and they want us to film my crossing "reality TV style" with the idea to perhaps make a documentary. They want me to be as candid as possible, especially telling about the things and people I miss the most, what drives me mad, the tough moments, the screams, the tears, and of course the laughs. I am sure that this will be another excuse for Petter to interview me as I just wake up in the tent in the morning!! Such a lovely hairstyle! For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook and therefore couldn't see it, Petter my guide made a very short "Indiana Jones" style movie from my training in Norway, and my hair looks like if I had just been electrocuted. The funny thing is that I am totally unaware of this.. (I wanted to upload the movie here, but for some reason, it is taking hours and I need to go to bed!). 

So off I went to a specialised photographic shop in London and spent a little fortune on a beautiful Nikon camera with all options and accessories as well as half a dozen 32GB memory cards!! But hopefully, if the movie/documentary comes out well, Antonia and her team will be able to get an English TV company interested in buying it, and the funds raised will go to the two charities which would be great.

Thank you to the FEW of you who have sent me a surprise! To be honest, please make an effort. Many many more of you need to do this!! Please send me a joke, a cartoon, a letter, whatever to make me smile after a hard day's work. You all know that I laugh quite easily and have my email addresses, so it shouldn't be too hard...

It's only five days until I go and my mind is starting to play games making me doubt myself! Am I fit enough? Did I train well enough? Will my body sustain the effort? Will I be able to pull so much weight uphill the first two days? Will I get blisters? Frostbite? And on, and on... I can't really say this in front of my children as I don't want to worry them, but I AM really scared of the physical side of the challenge. But at the same time, I can't wait to go... Does it make sense? Typical I guess...

Well by this time next week, my sled should be packed, and my harness, skis and poles ready for action. I should have my permit and the authorisation to go in hand and next Sunday night, I should be in Kangarlussuaq, spending my last night in a comfortable bed for a while!! 

  

A bag of surprises from my friends to cheer me up!

It would be a wonderful help for me if as many of you could send me a surprise with a message to open while I am on the ice. It can be some jokes, a picture of something you know will cheer me up, a poem, an invitation, whatever you think will help me keep my spirits up and that I can print on a sheet of paper! The more I have, the better it will be. I will put them in a bag and randomly pick one up every evening. Unfortunately, I can update my blog and call briefly some evenings, but cannot receive anything! So you have to do this before Thursday April 28th!!


You can send them to my private mail: sabinediederichs@googlemail.com (sabinediederichs@hotmail.com works too) with SURPRISE written as title so that I don't open it. I will ask my children to open it, print it and put it in an envelope with your name and any message. Thanks in advance!


Please, please, be many to do this. I count on you. Apparently the weather has been very difficult in Greenland and many expeditions have had to turn back because of frostbite and wet equipment. With my two seasoned Norwegians, I don't think that it will happen, but we might not escape the very cold and bad weather. So I need to have something to look for when I come back to the tent in the evening (something else than loud snores and freeze dried food!!!). 

9 days to go! Great news!

Three great news today! 
. Lovely Dee who did my promotional video has had her baby, a little boy called Noah. 
. The Right to Play have managed to get Chelsea Football Club to give me a shirt signed by all the team as a sponsorship incentive. I am going to put it in a draw in which the names of all my individual sponsors will go (however much or little they gave), and draw it on July 6th when I have my charity evening. 
. Lucy from Children in Crisis and Antonia have been busy organising the Party and have done a fabulous job. It will be in a lovely place with an auction, coverage by a magazine, goodie bags, celebrities, the lot... I'm soooo excited.
Now the only thing left to do is... for me to cross Greenland!! (argh...)


I really can't wait to go! I feel that I am in good shape mentally and physically. To go to Alaska was definitely the right decision. I miss the snow. It is very difficult to train and to get motivated in London when the weather is so warm and beautiful. When I pull my tyre in the park, not only everybody does look at me like if I were a Martian, but there are millions of people, dogs, babies, bicycles and ice-cream vans everywhere and it doesn't make my life easy!! So probably the best is to stop training and put on some weight and fat for the trip and tuck happily into eclairs, croissants, chocolate, and all my favourite snacks (I have become an addict of Pitta chips and to my delight found them in Wholefoods). I can't believe that I am doing this before the summer but apparently I will lose a lot of weight on the trip!  


Only 9 days left and I am running through town to get the last things for Greenland. Petter has been giving me a list of bags and thermos to buy. Now, not only do we have two bank holiday weekends back to back in the UK because of Easter and the Royal wedding which means that Royal Mail will have a ...royal excuse to mess deliveries up (sorry, I couldn't resist!), but most internet companies having limited stocks, I now have orders with 5 different companies (yipieee!!). So I have been busy trying to chase these orders to make sure that the goods will be here by next Friday. Not easy in normal times, really hard while on jetlag!!


I have also been given many useful personal tips by fellow explorers (I love describing myself as an arctic explorer...), on sun protection, electrolytes and Vitamin C, blister control, well being, dry bags and hygiene (this is the really disturbing aspect of this trip...), so now I have purchased a zillion little things of which I am probably going to use a tenth, but at least, I will have the choice on what to take with me on the trip. I count on my two fellow guides to go through all these ruthlessly in Kangarlussuaq, as otherwise my sleds will not only look like over inflated balloons, but will also weigh a ton!! But I will definitively follow David Marchi's lovely idea. He said that I should ask some friends and family to give me a surprise (small and light) that I will take with me on the trip and I open one of them randomly perhaps every three or four days to perk me up. I have already two music lists and can't wait for my kids's surprises. I added my personal treat (a sample bottle of my perfume..)! If anyone wants to send me something to take along from them (photo, poem, letter, whatever), please do so and send it to me at sabinediederichs@googlemail.com (I'll try not to look at the attachment and will ask one of my children to print it and seal it in an envelope! Maybe write surprise for Greenland as mail title so I don't open it...)

Back from Alaska

After a fabulous week of training in Alaska, I flew back to London. It will be difficult to go back to training on rollerskis in the park again, after the beautiful cold Alaskan snow. I had only one sled there, which means that it tended to sink in fresh snow thus making it more difficult to drag. But the harness I used and which was sitting tightly right under my hip bones was more comfortable than the shoulder harness I used in Norway. I found that it was much kinder on my back and made me use my legs more. The last day of training I decided not to use my poles at all and found out that it was actually great training for my technique. I must be careful not to use my arms too much as I need them for digging the snow when putting up the tent, but instead let my legs do the work as this is the right way to cross country ski. I could do this as I was on a track all day and the snow was pretty hard. The 50 minutes of effort/ 10 minutes of resting routine is also much easier now, and at the end of the week, I was really well organised and the rest time was plenty enough to eat, drink and recuperate. Of course, it probably did help that we ate very well in the evenings with plenty of delicious fish, crab and meat, so I had enough proteins and calories and so did not get tired from the exercise. In the mornings, I tried to have a similar porridge than the one we are going to have on the trip, and it worked very well.

Just 11 days to the start of the trip!! It is really coming fast now, but I feel that I am ready. My clothes from Bryjne should arrive at Petter's home any minute now and I am confident that they will fit perfectly. As I was leaving the lodge, Bret, the manager surprised me with a present. A big warm jacket to wear during the trip, and I must say that it was a very pleasant surprise as just looking at the Tordrillos logo will bring back some wonderful memories and make me very happy, which is what I will need when the going will get tough. I just need to buy some last food items and then I will have everything I need.

Just as I was coming through my front door, I got a call from Petter regarding our trip's insurance. It seems that the Danish authorities are very strict now on the level of insurance we have to take, as they had to conduct much more Search and Rescue operations last year due to big lakes forming on the ice cap from the melting ice. Siometimes those lakes are so big, that, not only are they very difficult to cross, but all the equipment becomes wet which makes it impossible to continue as we have no way of drying anything bigger than what can fit with us in our sleeping bags! But we all called our contacts who were wonderfully helpful and ressourceful and it seems that we have solved the situation. I just booked my hotel in Copenhagen on the way out on April 29th, and my return flight from Iceland on May 26th. So it looks like I am all set!

Extreme Mother - Promotional Film

Please watch my promotional film above and learn about the extreme mental and physical challenges that I will be undertaking every day of ski-ing the Arctic Circle.  I also explain how it is my belief in the work of Children in Crisis and Right To Play that motivates me to undertake such an intense challenge.


Also check me out training on roller skis in London's Hyde Park, and getting to meet the wonderful Chemmy Alcott who very kindly gave me some excellent tips to prepare me for weeks spent in such an extreme climate.


Please do help me to make a life-changing difference to 1000's of children and young people across the world - sponsor me at: www.virginmoneygiving.com/sabinediederichs


Thank you for your support.

Alaska

After a rather complicated journey to Alaska, Chris having to fly 24 hours ahead of me, we are in Tordrillos, which is probably one of the nicest ski lodge around. It feels like a second home, with a very relaxed atmosphere and only 12 guests, and on top of it the food is absolutely delicious. Everybody is always so keen to help.  I brought my randonnee skis which have skins for traction. and they have rented a sled with a harness so that I can train for Greenland. I had booked my trip long ago, before finding out that the crossing would start within 3 weeks of this trip. Of course, not wanting to take the risk of injuring myself, I have decided to take this opportunity to train on snow for a week.


The setting is also ideal for Chris, as the heli-ski is probably some of the best ever, and there is plenty of space for training pulling my sled. Unfortunately the weather was too cloudy to fly the first 2 days, so there was no heli-ski. It did not affect my training though and I loaded my sled with 200 pounds and headed to the meadow. It is ideal as a full lap is almost exactly 50 minutes long, which is the length of a Greenland stint. I did 3 hours in the morning, came back to the lodge for lunch and went back for another 3 laps. The meadow is ideal as I can follow the track but can also cut into deep snow which is probably more similar to the first 2 days on glacier after leaving Kangerlussuaq. There are some old snowmobile tracks which makes it even more difficult to haul the sled. GREAT training!! Today I did 6 hours in a stint, about half of them in deep snow. It was quite tiring, and my feet are really suffering, but it is probably nothing compared to what it will be on the real trek.


It is really nice to see Christophe having such a nice time. He is totally in his element and very at ease with everybody. He had a wonderful day skiing today, and it looks very good for tomorrow.


I am going to go on the glacier with a guide training tomorrow as that will be the best training for the first few days in Greenland when we have to climb up the glacier to reach the ice cap. Hopefully the snow will not be too deep as I found out that it is extremely hard to pull my loaded sled in deep snow on the meadow so I cannot imagine what going uphill would be like!

My fundraising DVD is done!

Dee, Ronit and all involved with filming and editing a short fundraising message on a DVD have done an amazing job! Thanks a million for it!! Shortly I will put the link on my blog, but I need to check with the bigwigs if I can do this!! We have been greatly inspired by the "brains on bikes" DVD of the amazing Anne Feeley which I found very inspiring. Hopefully it will be a fundraising success as sponsorship is very very slow to come! 


It has been a bit of a struggle to find a lot of time to train back in London, with the weather being so hot, thousands of people, dogs and children in the park, as well as the millions of things to organise for May. As if crossing Greenland was not enough, I am also renovating my house and had to find someone who understood my taste, could do the work on a tight budget and time. I am confident that I have found the right people and that they will do a great job! I will have to totally delegate as I am coming back from Alaska on April 18th, the day Miranda goes on Holidays and I will be gone to Greenland when she comes back to London!!! Any serious issue will have to wait until June. Well there are priorities in life, and I'd rather give my time to improve children's lives, than to make my house absolutely picture perfect. 


I really look forward to Alaska, the cold, the snow, a sled and a frozen lake. Somehow I am so tuned to Greenland that I feel like a stranger in the hot weather! I hope that I will have the willpower to train long hours while I am there. I am certainly going to try and load that sled to the max, so that the uphill going of the first 2 days of the crossing will be less painful. Hopefully I will also get all the blisters that I should get for a month so that I know exactly where to put my Compeeds. Whatever I do, or however I try to prepare my skin, I get terrible blisters on my toes. But I am used to it, and thanks to the modern plasters, it is really not that tragic anymore and I can carry on walking. I don't know how the first explorers did though! Apparently it has been snowing loads in Tordrillos, so my son will have the time of his life. 

Brynje

Today has been a day of good news.


First Jatinder of "Embroidery by Design" sent me the final proof for my expedition logo and it is great. I love it. It has both my charities's names on it, my beautiful "Extreme Mother" logo and a short message about the challenge. It also states what this is about as well as the date of the challenge.
Lars has added my name as he likes to make logo quite personalised. 


Then Margaret sent me a mail telling me that Brynje would be happy to give me their clothes for the expedition. I am really happy as these are the best and most technical clothes that I have ever worn. I wore a mesh underlayer while training for 4 days which was just amazing. I was never too hot nor cold, and it dried amazingly quickly. So I am really very happy and proud to be dressed in Brynje and I must say that I am so grateful to them as it saves me buying all the expedition clothes I need, (and which really, because of the harsh weather and non-stop wear, have to be different and tougher from the one I ski with in the Alps), and this would have been quite expensive. So thanks a million Brynje!

ADRIEN, my darling godson!

Yesterday I went to Paris to meet Adrien who is Corinne and Guillaume's baby. He was born on March 27th. Guillaume is my nephew and we have always been very close and I was very happy when he married Corinne who is absolutely lovely. So it was only natural that I jumped in a plane and went to see them as soon as I could.

A big surprise awaited me: I am Adrien's godmother!! I am so happy! 
Isn't he the cutest baby? He slept in my arms while his mother was resting a little (the first days are soooo tiring), and I was in heaven! I am sure that if I have a down day in Greenland, thinking of Adrien will help me by bringing a huge smile to my face. Of course I will also think of Sabine, my lovely goddaughter who started university last year.


While I was driving through Paris, I could not believe my eyes as a big French bank,  Societe Generale has a campaign which message is identical to the Right to Play's message. It says "nothing is nicer than team spirit". Isn't this unbelievable? It is what I fundamentally believe and one of the key reasons for me crossing Greenland!! (this is a sign...). I am going to contact RTP to see if they could team with Soc Gen in France.


Life is really wonderful and I am lucky. My family is doing very well, my children are wonderful and I am terribly proud of them, my parents are very healthy and strong, and so are my brothers, sisters, and their children and grandchildren and, last but not least, my darling Adrien!! I have the support and help of many great people for my challenge and everyday brings another friend ready to help or sponsor me. Even total strangers send me messages of support. I am incredibly grateful for this and it makes me even more determined to help disadvantaged children dramatically improve their chances in life, so that, in turn, they also can experience how beautiful and stimulating life can be!