'We're all much stronger than we believe we are'

Mountaineer and record-breaker Mollie Hughes has climbed Everest and trekked across Antarctica - but she says overcoming her 'primal fear' was the real secret of her success

- INTERVIEW BY CHARLOTTE HEATHCOTE

Climbing the world’s highest mountain may seem an unusual ambition for a stony-broke student with a fear of heights - but Mollie Hughes is not the kind of person to let seemingly insurmountable obstacles stand in her way.

She had climbed Mount Kenya by the age of 17 then, at just 21, she reached the summit of Everest.

Five years later she was back in the Himalayas to tackle the mountain again - this time via a more challenging route. And that made her the youngest woman to climb both sides of Everest.

EXTREME

Then, aged 29, she skied alone across Antarctica, a 700-mile journey through storms, winds and temperatures as low as -45 degrees, becoming the youngest woman to ski solo to the South Pole.

As if that wasn't inspirational enough, Mollie, now 34, has channelled everything she learned at the extreme edge of survival into her new book Breathe, which aims to help us all navigate life's challenges.

Mollie grew up in Devon and her passion for travel was sparked by a school trip to Kenya where she climbed its famous peak. “I was hooked,” she says. "Seeing the scale of mountains and this vertical world, I fell in love.” She went on to climb in the Indian Himalayas, the Andes, Kilimanjaro and the Alps, paying for her trips through part-time jobs and fundraising.

Then, for her university dissertation, she interviewed seven men who had climbed Everest - and realised she longed to join their ranks. “The interviews really inspired me and focused me on Everest, a mountain with so much history that it would be amazing to step on it.”

So Mollie set about sourcing corporate sponsorship. She also raised £1,000 by auctioning a tattoo of the winner's choice on her bottom, feeling she got off lightly when the winners picked two kissing chickens.