Female firefighters who skied unassisted from West Antarctica to the South Pole in temperatures as low as -58°F reveal that every day was like Groundhog Day

Female firefighters who skied from West Antarctica to the South Pole have broken a world record.

Georgina Gilbert and Rebecca Rowe, from Wales, known as the 'Antarctic Fire Angels', have become the first all-female service team ever to complete the route.

The pair, who left in November 2023, had no aid or support for the entire 1,200-mile journey, strapped to 180-pound tow (supply sleds) in temperatures as low as -58°F.

Speaking on ITV's Lorraine about their emotions when they finally reached the South Pole, they said it was 'a real mixture of feelings'.

Georgina said: “It was surreal because it's been four years in the making, you finally get there and it's a real mixture of feelings because you're so excited to get there but so overwhelmed by it.

'Also sad, because there were so many years of planning before that moment came to an end.'

Rebecca said: “It was the hardest thing we've ever done, it was literally Groundhog Day every day. We did the same thing every day for 52 days.

Georgia added: 'We would get up at 6.30am every morning, prepare breakfast etc. It would take over an hour for the snow to melt so we could eat, we would pack up, leave around 9am and go 10 hours of skiing. then setting up the tent, getting everything ready to go to bed, that was basically our day, every day.”

The women explained that the terrain “felt like another planet” and that the lack of anything to focus on on the horizon gave them “funny vision.”

Rebecca said: 'There was nothing to focus on, the horizon felt like it was constantly changing, downhill it was flat, but it always felt uphill because the snow was so dry.

“We both came back with strange vision, it was blurry because we had nothing to concentrate on all that time.”

Georgia and Rebecca even spent Christmas Day on the Northern Continent and tried to make the day special.

Rebecca says: 'At the end of the day we took a few hours off and in the morning we also spoke to our partners.

'In the afternoon we ate Christmas cake. We carried this cake from the beginning, we had it for about five weeks.”

The women are now speaking to schools about their courageous adventure in the hope of inspiring women and girls to realize their ambitions.

Speak with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Georgia said: 'When we first approached insurance companies about this expedition, there was no cover for women over 45 attempting an unguided expedition.

'There was equal coverage for men, but none at all for women, and this was unanimous around the world.'

'This is simply not acceptable. It should be possible for every woman or girl to take advantage of every opportunity in life to realize their ambitions, without these kinds of restrictions.”

In 2022, the pair spoke to Lorraine about how they hope to inspire women to take on their own adventures.

“Anything is possible and women can do those things too, that's it,” added Rebecca, a former Team GB rower who played rugby for Wales in the Six Nations before becoming a firefighter.

“There aren't many female explorers compared to men. We want to get out there and show women that we can do these kinds of things.

“We hope to inspire other women to have the confidence to go out and achieve what they want to do but they're not quite sure or confident about doing it,” Rebecca added .

They also talked about the demanding ski training that preceded the challenge.

“As firefighters we are used to heat and smoke and now we are in a completely different environment,” says Georgina, who has worked as a firefighter in Wales for 20 years.

Rebecca explained that they were preparing to travel to Sweden for ice exercises, which involved immersing themselves in ice-cold water.

'We go into the water to help with resilience. And then dealing with the aftermath, so coming out of the cold and dealing with how we warm up and understanding how long it takes for us to warm up,” she explained.

In addition to this demanding training, the women admitted that they also had to prepare mentally.

'A positive mentality can go a long way. When things get really tough, just smile and it will just improve the mood, even if it's just 5 percent,” Georgina said.