Elham Al-Qasimi: North Pole expedition

The sponsor meetings and media commitments in Dubai kept me so occupied, I didn’t even think about the importance of the upcoming week. It was my last exposure to subzero training ahead of the expedition. While I sat in front of a CNN crew shooting an interview at Almaz in Harvey Nichols, I looked down at my phone to read my trainers’ messages as they raided my house in London to pack my bags for the trip. Where are your plunge mitts? Do you need your RAB down coat? Fleece? Carabiners…

Five days of Polar Shakedown. I had thought about it many times, but never really paused long enough to think about what I actually might face there. It probably was for the best though, as with little expectation, I could only be surprised and excited but, more importantly, experience rather than think.