HOST JENNIFER (00:02):
Hello, welcome to this podcast called FINDING INSPIRATION. It's a 20 or so-minute weekly podcast where we interview someone with an amazing story. After the show, I know you're gonna feel energized, invigorated, and inspired. I'm Jennifer Weissmann. Welcome to FINDING INSPIRATION.
HOST JENNIFER (00:27):
This Episode 22 is a follow-up to Episode 9. I spoke again to Danielle Wolfson to see her status with her on her 7 Summit Project. She's traveling the world, climbing the seven largest summits. It's an amazing, amazing lifetime goal. Danielle is doing it in a couple of years; as you might recall, Danielle Wolfson was in a skiing accident and was told she would never walk again. And that day in her hospital room, she made a promise. I will learn to walk, and I will climb Mount Everest, and that she did. In this Episode 22, we are speaking about a wide range of topics but mostly about her amazing experience in Antarctica. We also talked about her life as a Russian person and how she feels about the war in Ukraine. Danielle's message to the world is that she's an ordinary woman and you should dare to dream in your own life. Hello, Danielle Wolfson. I'm very excited to speak again. The last time we saw you, you had just come down off the summit of Mount Everest. I like to call you a Calculated Daredevil. Tell me, in the last few months, what have you been doing that's calculated and crazy at the same time.
GUEST DANIELLE (01:44):
Hi Jennifer. So happy to be here. Yes, it's a crazy day. Crazy months. Since our last conversation, I told you about my expedition to the highest mountain in the world Mt. Everest. And since then, I just climbed the highest mountain in Antarctica called Vinson Massif. It is the highest peak in Antarctica, at 4,892 meters (16,050 ft). Antarctica, the south pole, is the coldest place in the world. And sometimes people think that the north pole is the coldest place. And Antarctica is the coldest place in the world. And I lived there for almost one month.
HOST JENNIFER (02:25):
How cold is cold? Like, gimme a number.
GUEST DANIELLE (02:27):
It was a summer like November, December, or January; it's a summer. And these days, it's like minus 50 degrees Celcius. In the winter days, it's going to be minus 100 -140 degrees Celcius. If we compare it to Everest at the summit, it was minus 40 degrees Celsius. Antarctica, it's a different game, a different game.
HOST JENNIFER (03:03):
What was Antarctica like?
GUEST DANIELLE (03:05):
It's like a cosmos disconnected from everything. It's a clean continent, a very white continent. There's only snow. There's nothing. You cannot even go in dirty boots on the snow. When you arrive on a special plane, it lands on the ice. So we are cleaning our boots even when we touchdown. Everything must stay clean and white in Antarctica.
HOST JENNIFER (03:30):
Let me just understand; you land with a special plane. And when you get off the plane, you must clean your shoes. Why?
GUEST DANIELLE (03:37):
Absolutely. There are no bacteria, nothing. Everything is clean. So you cannot bring anything with you. They're keeping Antarctica clean. So the snow must be very clean and very white. Nobody can even put anything on the snow. Nothing, of course, no garbage, of course. What happens there you take it back with you to Chile. I'm not speaking about performing basic needs. For your waste, you put everything in special bag battles and everything you bring back with you. Nothing stays there. Nothing.
HOST JENNIFER (04:14):
What comes with you leaves with you.
GUEST DANIELLE (04:17):
Absolutely everything.
HOST JENNIFER (04:17):
What was the purpose of the trip? What were you doing?
GUEST DANIELLE (04:21):
I am continuing my Seven Summit Project. My life goal is to climb the highest mountain on seven continents. So Vinson Massif is the highest mountain on the Antarctica continent. After Antarctica, there are two mountains left for me to summit: Denali in Alaska and the one mountain in Australia. I will be the first Israeli woman to complete Seven Summit Project.
HOST JENNIFER (04:56):
When do you expect you're gonna complete your Seven Summit Project?
GUEST DANIELLE (05:00):
I will complete my Seven Summit Project in 2022.
HOST JENNIFER (05:12):
You take calculated risks. You went to Everest and had trouble getting up and down, yet you survived it.
GUEST DANIELLE (05:27):
People ask me, how do you compare Everest to Antarctica? My response is one day in Antarctica; it's like ten days during an expedition on Everest. And I will explain, first of all, it's light all the time. 24 /7 daylight. In all 24 hours, you do something. First of all, it's a sportive expedition. So you do everything. There are no porters. There's no, sherpa, there are no people that can carry something for you. So I took a sled that weight 40 to 60 kilograms. It starts, but you know, during expectation, we eat, using your supplies. So it's less and less, fewer kilograms. We do everything ourselves with our sled to Base Camp 1, 2, and 3.
GUEST DANIELLE (06:11):
And after the summit push, because it's light all day. So we are building the camp. We are preparing water from the snow. Everything takes hours, hours, and hours. After that, we build something, and after that, we prepare the food. After that, we need to take our camp and go to another camp like you are working for 20, 12, 14 hours. One day is very long. In Everest, you wake up very early; it's become dark. So at 5:00 PM already dark. So you're going to sleep, and you come again yearly, and a dark again. Different in Antarctica -- time doesn't matter. I even didn't understand what time it is. It's always light. So sometimes we go out at 2:00 AM outside, or sometimes we walk up at 12 o'clock noon. It's like unbelievable. It was a different story. And it's very cold, like very windy in Antarctica.
HOST JENNIFER (07:01):
It sounds like it's more of a mental game. It's cold. You're carrying everything. But to be in daylight 24 hours a day, getting your body to sleep rest must be weird in the constant daylight.
GUEST DANIELLE (07:16):
Absolutely. Yeah, that was hard. It's almost impossible. You, I must be so tired that I'm going to sleep for a few hours. And I woke up almost a month because we have stuck because of the weather. It was bad weather, and I couldn't climb. We start climbing from my camp, and we got stuck because of the weather. We went back down and later start again, but everything changed. Also, remember you are disconnected from the world in Antarctica. For example, in Everest base camps, there's wifi. In Antarctica, I spent one month disconnected.
HOST JENNIFER (07:45):
No wifi??
GUEST DANIELLE (07:46):
Of course, no wifi. There are only walkie-talkies that you can speak with between the camps. And that's all, and it's light all day, but it's very, very cold and windy. It's not that you can go outside and do something. So you are sitting in your tent, and that's all.
HOST JENNIFER (08:04):
How many people were with you?
GUEST DANIELLE (08:06):
This expedition was six people.
HOST JENNIFER (08:19):
Were you the only woman?
GUEST DANIELLE (08:21):
No. There was one other lady in our expedition, but she didn't succeed. She stopped after weeks, but she couldn't do anything. She needs to wait for the special plane to come to get her, but with the bad weather - no plane could come. We were stuck twice in the first attempt to go to the summit.
HOST JENNIFER (08:49):
Did you get out of this latest challenge? Were you physically prepared for this?
GUEST DANIELLE (08:54):
Yes, of course. It was different preparation from Everest. There were more things that I need to do. It's less about doing aerobic things. It's a more physical thing to stretch my body. And also, I worked with the sleds. Like I did a simulation with sand. Not the same but I did it on the sea to prepare myself; I'm so lucky to be on the Antarctica continent. So many, so few people that can do it and be there by myself. I am very happy that I also did Antarctica and succeeded Everest. To tell my story about the Antarctica continent because people cannot even don't understand what Antarctica is. I'm explaining that it is 3000 kilometers of only ice. There's nothing else but ice.
GUEST DANIELLE (09:59):
And no one living there except for acclimatization. Or people who study weather but that's only in the Summer. There are no houses, and no people, just nothing.
HOST JENNIFER (10:15):
What is driving you? Do you feel like you've achieved something and are you satisfied with your accomplishments?
GUEST DANIELLE (10:31):
I am satisfied when I finish my goal, and of course, I'm very happy to do it, but as I finish something and I'm standing on the summit, and I go back to the safe place, I'm thinking about my next challenge. I want to show it to everybody. And especially to women that I am an average woman, I'm an ordinary woman. I'm also, you know that I have a profession. I am a lawyer. I have a son, and I want to show that everything is possible. I wasn't a mountain climber. I found my passion, and everybody can find their passion. Everything is possible. Ordinary women and ordinary people can do it. That is what I wanted to show that I want.
GUEST DANIELLE (11:14):
I found my climbing in this era; I'm showing, and also in my TED talk, I spoke about it. Everything is possible. Dare to dream, and find your desires and passion. You just need only to be persistent and work hard. I am building a plan. As you ask, I'm training a few months before planning how I'm doing. I am choosing the expedition with whom I'm going and who will guide this expedition. I'm doing many things in the end to do something that I wanted to do and succeed. It's a big, wow. And I can show that everything is possible.
HOST JENNIFER (11:47):
What I admire so much about you is that you set a goal, and they are lofty goals. These are goals that most people couldn't even dream of, but I love your message. Anything is possible because I think that's what stops a lot of people. Something that seems so out of their comfort zone is so hard. I know for me, that's true. You're very inspirational by setting these really big goals, aiming high, achieving them, and setting the next goal. I just have to ask because you are Russian, and we're in the middle of watching a Russian invasion. What's your, what's your sense of how far Putin will go?
GUEST DANIELLE (12:21):
This morning I have an interview on some Israeli challenges, and I have friends in Ukraine. I also have friends in Russia. Mountain friends, when people do expeditions together, are like a brother and sisters forever. And my friend in Ukraine, I just connected with her. She was the first Ukrainian woman that climbed Mount Everest. She did it for Ukraine. And we spoke today. And she told me that she wanted to go climbing in April and decided not to. Instead, she goes to the Ukrainian army to fight for her country for peace. I don't want to take a position since I'm Russian. I want peace. Peace for everybody, for the Russian and Ukrainian people, everybody's suffering now. My friend will go to the mountains and stand on the summit and put on the Ukrainian flag and tell the world that I love my country. Just as I do in my country in Israel.
HOST JENNIFER (13:36):
I admire your courage, and I admire your persistence. And I think it's safe to say we are all praying for the Russian people who have a horrible leader, a horrible dictator, and of course, the Ukrainians.
GUEST DANIELLE (13:51):
We will not stand with dictators, and it'll not happen. That what happens 80 years ago, it'll not happen again. History will not come again, and it will be peace.
HOST JENNIFER (14:01):
Danielle, thank you so much for taking time out of your day. I'll keep track of you and am thrilled at your next adventure to Alaska. Thank you for joining us this week on FINDING INSPIRATION. Hey, I would appreciate it. If you would click on that subscribe button and share this podcast with a friend, see you next week. I'm Jennifer Weissman.