This episode is the other side of the ledger. You’ve had the crossing and the why. This one names the fears on this road, one at a time. The foot, and whether it holds through four more years of training and three more expeditions. The solitude, because 20 days alone in Finnmarksvidda in February is where I find out what happens when the noise is gone and the dark voices come in. The money, because the whole road costs somewhere around $350,000 and that number keeps me awake. Failing in public, with the claim already out there. And the people at home, who watch you sign a contract that mentions death more times than anything you’ve ever put a pen to.

Why say any of it out loud? Because pretending fear isn’t there is how fear wins. And because fear is information, not instruction. There’s no bow on this one. I’ll probably be scared until I ski into the Pole in 2030, and that’s the point.

The full road: gerryvanderwalt.com/road-to-the-south-pole

Excited for some interviews with amagin polar adventurers! One has skied the exact piece of Antarctica I’m aiming for. The other is one of the most accomplished polar explorers alive. Coming soon.

Do good work.

G.

That answer never worked for me. This episode is my attempt at a real one.

Someone recently asked if I found the answers I was looking for in Greenland. I was never looking for answers. I was looking for better questions, because that’s how we get better. So this one digs into the stack that sits under this whole road: the promise I made myself about turning 50 and not going backwards. Wanting something you can’t buy off a brochure. A lifetime of competing, and finally finding an arena where I can compete flat out and nobody has to lose. How a big goal with a date on it turns the noise down on everything else. The people who started walking the dog again because a guy was dragging tyres up a hill. And underneath all of it, the one that resists explanation: something in me simply knows I need to do this.

The full road: gerryvanderwalt.com/road-to-the-south-pole

Next episode: the part I’m scared of.

Do good work.

G.

This first episode is that story. How a training expedition in Svalbard woke something up, what the crossing actually looked like day to day, the two weeks in the deepest pain cave I’ve ever been in, and what “unsupported” officially means when the definitions get strict. Plus the difference between suffering and chosen hardship, and why that distinction matters for everything that comes next.

Because this crossing was the first step of a four year road: a 20 day solo in northern Norway in February, Iceland in 2028, and in 2030 an attempt to become the first South African to ski solo, unsupported and unassisted to the South Pole.

All the Greenland data, heart rate variability, strain, recovery, the lot: gerryvanderwalt.com/greenland

The full road: gerryvanderwalt.com/road-to-the-south-pole

Next episode: the why. The deep one.

Do good work.

G.

Episode 001, The Crossing, out this week.

Full story: gerryvanderwalt.com/road-to-the-south-pole

Do good work.

G.