I was reading about a young Australian woman the other day who is the youngest person to complete the Polar Hat Trick. I didn’t even know what the “Polar Hat Trick” was so I did some more research, and found that this young woman is truly remarkable. Let me list the feats of Jade Hameister:
- In 2013, at age 12 Jade completed the trek to Everest Base Camp.
- In April 2016 Jade became the youngest person in history to ski to the North Pole from anywhere outside the Last Degree.
- That year she was recognised by Australian Geographic Society as Young Adventurer of the Year.
- In June 2017 Jade completed the 550km traverse of the Greenland ice sheet unsupported and unassisted – the youngest ever to do so.
- In January 2018 Jade skied 600km from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole unsupported and unassisted – a 37 day journey.
So it seems that the Polar Hat Trick involves undertaking heroic feats in what I can only imagine to be diabolical weather to travel to the North and South Poles and Greenland.
I have a few questions of why… and her response to this question during a TEDx Talk was:
“What if young women around the world were encouraged to be more, rather than less? What if the focus shifted from how we appear to the possibilities of what we can do?”
This is pretty remarkable and quite an extreme way to do it, but she was also able to raise awareness of the impact of climate change whilst doing so.
But the thing I really love about Jade is her response to some internet trolls told her to make them a sandwich. She made one, posted a picture of herself with the sandwich at the South Pole and captioned the photo:
“I made you a sandwich (ham & cheese), now ski 37 days and 600 kilometres to the South Pole and you can eat it.”
I love everything about this young woman!
Jade Hameister OAM, we see you and we salute you.
