Women Who Travel Podcast: A Solo Skiing Expedition Across Antarctica
09.09.2024 - 16:47
/ cntraveler.com
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Our solo travel mini series has followed guests on a work trip to Cannes and a six-month backpacking odyssey across South America. But in this third and final installment, we speak to a guest who pushed themselves even further—to Antarctica. Lale chats with Preet Chandhi, an endurance athlete who’s broken records skiing alone across one of the world’s most brutal and isolated landscapes, to find out how she trained for it, combatted loneliness, and relied on her survival skills during multiple polar expeditions.
Lale Arikoglu: Hi there. I'm Lale Arikoglu, and welcome to the third and final part of our Women Who Travel series exploring journeying solo. In this podcast and at Condé Nast Traveler more widely, we often say that you can go just about anywhere on your own these days. But Antarctica alone, few people can say that. However, my guest today, Preet Chandi is an endurance athlete who has broken records skiing alone in Antarctica on several expeditions starting in late 2022.
Preet Chandi: Antarctica isn't some lifelong dream for me. I don't know anything about it. It was about pushing boundaries, and—just to be really honest about it—it was really hard. I am not Superwoman. I struggled getting there. Some of it was incredibly difficult.
LA: Preet's competed in mountain races and ultra marathons, but she took up cross-country skiing just a few years ago, and it's only now she describes herself as an adventurer.
PC: I kept doing different challenges, and I think the more we do the more we realize we're capable of, and they just kept getting a bit bigger, and I wanted to do something big that was proving that I could go and do stuff. Being told so often I couldn't or I wasn't smart enough or good enough. I think there was part of me that wanted to probably prove something. And then it was bigger than me too, so it wasn't just to prove that I could do it, but to show if someone like me can go and do it, you can go and do anything. I just had this idea that I wanted to cross the landmass in Antarctica, and I so fiercely thought, "No, I think I can do this." And it wasn't through any arrogance. I'm coming as a novice, I was contacting everyone and anyone. I created Polar Preet the website, social media, contacting literally everybody and asking all the stupid questions because I literally did not know advice, what kit to get, borrowing everything I could to do training trips.
LA: Preet is a physiotherapist for Britain's Royal Army Medical Corps. She's used to being part of a team. When I think of Antarctica, I think of endless ice and snow and wind and silence, which is so