Week 4 [27 October - 2 November]: Ray Zahab - Trek to the South Pole

Week 4 [27 October - 2 November]: Ray Zahab - Trek to the South Pole

Ray Zahab comes from Chelsea in Canada. He’s a founder of impossible2possible.com – a group that inspire and educate youth to protect this fragile planet and its people. He spoke at Ted conference in 2009 about his trek across Antarctica which was recorded as the fastest trek in human history. 

The whole journey started in the Hercules Inlet and ended at the South Pole. Ray started it with his two friends Richard Webber and Kevin Valley. Together they broke the speed record for trek to South Pole which took them 33 days 23 hours and 55 minutes; the previous journey took 5 days more. His whole journey was solo on foot without skies. He was the first person in human history doing so. His equipment weighs 170 pounds and he need to drag it all over the journey. Because of that they ate only beacon and butter to maintain their body weight. They needed 8,500 calories per day to achieve that! 

Ray said that to be honest this journey didn’t start at Hercules Inlet but two years before in the Sahara desert during the 111 day run across the desert. There they learnt about water crisis in Northern Africa. Doing this run, he understood one important thing – he can do anything he wants when his mind is ready. He also found there a reason why he should push himself to the limits – simply to inspire others to make changes in their lives just by dreaming about something else. 

This story is a good reminder why human beings should explore unknown areas and push their comfort zone further. Sometimes we need to sacrifice little things in our life’s to get bigger ones in future – not so many of us are capable to do such things. However, if we can accomplish that we can fulfill our dreams and inspire others, like Ray just by putting our fears away.  

Sources:

http://www.ted.com/talks/ray_zahab_treks_to_the_south_pole [images]