Linda will Celebrate her 50th Birthday Climbing to the North Pole

Linda Beilharz, an avid adventurist and mother of two from Australia, was born on April 15th, 1960. Currently living in Bendigo, a regional town of about 100,000 people in Central Victoria, south east Victoria, Australia, Linda was gracious enough to grant Girls Can’t WHAT? a few moments of her time for an interview.

GCW: Hi Linda! So glad you can join us. As I look over all of your plans and your upcoming trip to the North Pole, I am thinking you must be pretty young to have so much energy but you’re actually older than me. May we ask your age?

Linda: I’m aiming to turn 50 on my way to the North Pole. I can’t think of a better thing to be doing as I greet that particular milestone.

GCW: That really is a sweet way to look at milestone birthdays.  I’m going to keep that in mind.  What is your main passion and describe when you first became interested in it.

Linda: I have a number of passions – and don’t think I’ll ever be finished finding new things that are interesting and worth learning about or experiencing. Right now I am in the middle of working towards a goal to do a major expedition across each of the four major icecaps of the world. I started this with a trip to the South Pole – 56 days of hauling a sled from the edge of the Antarctic at the end of 2004. I thought it would be the main big adventure of my life but after being home again for a while I decided I wanted to do some more similar trips – hence the 4 icecaps goal. I have organised and led an east west traverse of the Greenland icecap and have done a failed attempt to cross the South Patagonian Icecap (in 19 days we managed to go a total of 7 kms out and then had to return. I’ll have to go back to try that again!) the biggest one – the North Pole trip I’m getting organised to do in March and April 2010.

Before the icecaps I learned to fly a plane – I still love doing that but can’t do the two things at once. Before that I was focusing on my work in community development and before that being a mum of a boy and a girl.

GCW:  Wow – it sounds like there is no stopping you. Have you ever been told you “can’t” because you are a girl? What did you do about it?

Linda: I have not been told I can’t do something in words but have experienced the limitations that cultural expectations create. My family and friends are all encouraging. They think I’m mad but they don’t say I can’t do anything. But as I said at a women’s function once the challenge is that there are few stories about women doing these things to create the vision of what might be possible, there are few women as companions or team members, there is much less money available, less publicity – the list is endless.

GCW: Linda that is a fantastic way to put it.  We really do have to “create the vision of what might be possible” for women.  Your photos are very inspiring.  Do you have a favorite event or memory?

Lots (of course) but one I think of quite often is what I call a ‘nature moment’. I was sitting up high on a cliff edge a few hundred metres up, looking out over the hazy, flat, bush and farm land that reached out to the horizon. It was quiet and warm in the sunshine. An eagle came up from below, floating up on the thermals, near the cliff. It rose up almost beside me and then hung motionless in the air only a meter or two above me. I could see the look on its face, its eyes, some feathers ruffling in the wind. After it had checked me out to its satisfaction it allowed the thermals to take it up higher and disappeared high into the sky.

I love being in wild places – and I think it’s a real privilege to have the opportunity. Its where I can lose myself in the environment and be most alive at the same time.

GCW:  How amazing was that?  You can’t buy moments like those.  I’m betting you just inspired the next generation of explorers… so how would you encourage other girls who are interested in adventures like yours?

Linda: Here are some things I think about:

• Its important for us to tell the stories – so young women can know more about what women have done.
• Tell girls that they don’t have to know what they are going to do in the end. All they need to do is take one step at a time.
• The best direction to step is in the direction of your passions. Your heart can tell you what is best for you.
• The biggest limitations are in our minds – beliefs about ourselves, about what women ‘should’ do, about what our bodies can do. A fellow who was helping me train once said “You can always do more even at the point that you think you are tired. Being tired is not a reason to stop.” Just like my dad telling me that when my legs were sore during a jog that I could keep going and the hurting would stop. He was right – I just needed my mind to help me know the difference between what is a real signal that I need to stop and what is just a lazy one. Like everyone else I too can be fantastically lazy.
• On my trips I have managed to cope with physical demands as effectively but differently to the men. My patience, ability to pace myself, organisational skills and determination get me there even if I’m not quite a physically fast or strong.
• I started with small steps and just did a bit more each time I went on a trip – bushwalks, then mountaineering courses, walks with my women friends, guides and then on my own again, gradually learning more and gaining more confidence. It’s not hard when you take many small steps.

GCW: Small steps are certainly key.  That’s good advice for everyone no matter what their interest may be.  What other interests do you have?

Hmmmmm, I’m starting to learn how to make digital movies, I love reading, I’m a member of a local sustainability group and I’m a volunteer in the Victorian Alpine Search and Rescue group. I play social basketball and I work in a women’s health centre (4 days a week so I have time to do other things). My children have left home now so I have a lot of freedom but I love catching up with them from time to time. I’ve also set up a company that links the stories of expeditions to school students and community groups through presentations, lesson guides and resource materials.

GCW: Sounds like a lot of fun.  Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your time with us.  Please keep us up-to-date on your travels.  For those interested in following Linda, information on the North Pole trip can be found at icecapjourneys.blogspot.com and icecapjourneys.com.au.  The school resources are on journeysforlearning.com.au.  You can also follow Linda (icecapjourneys) on Twitter.