Oct 14, 2026 · 40 min · 10 segments
After COVID, Monet Izabeth was craving a challenge. So she decided to become the first American woman to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. Monet was not an avid skier and didn't particularly…
Was training six days a week for two-plus years, and so that included, like, strength training, running, increasing my endurance, and then also the most visually striking of my training, which was pulling two Jeep tires around with a harness around my waist, which is the training that best emulates what it's like to pull a sled fully loaded in Antarctica.
She also did skills-based training, wilderness first aid, how to rescue yourself if you fall into a crevasse, and familiarizing herself with all her equipment.
I needed to know how to use all my gear in and out to fix things when they broke.
Because I was doing or planning to do the expedition solo and unsupported, it means I couldn't accept any help.
And if I did accept any help along the way, like if something broke and I needed to have a fix sent to me, I would lose my unsupported status.
You know, would wake up sort of overwhelmed with the idea that I was training to be alone in Antarctica.
I knew that actually at times when I was in Antarctica, the closest people to me would be in the International Space Station above my head, which is psychotic [laughs].
She had no sponsors for the expedition, so she dug into her savings to pay for it.
Aside from funding the expedition, Monae says one of the toughest tasks was figuring out exactly what she could take with her.
If you're sort of imagining what someone looks like when they're on these expeditions, um, there's me.
I have a harness around my waist and a rope tied from the harness to two sleds that I'm pulling behind me, and those sleds have to hold everything that I need for the two months that I'll be on expedition.
All that weight meant Monae would be burning a lot of calories every single day.
Trying to figure out what sort of calorically dense food I will actually eat out there, how to make sure I'm getting, you know, enough fat, enough carbs, enough protein.
And then on top of that, trying to make my gear as light as possible, so re-weighing all of my gear.
Was training six days a week for two-plus years, and so that included, like, strength training, running, increasing my endurance, and then also the most visually striking of my training, which was pulling two Jeep tires around with a harness around my waist, which is the training that best emulates what it's like to pull a sled fully loaded in Antarctica.
She also did skills-based training, wilderness first aid, how to rescue yourself if you fall into a crevasse, and familiarizing herself with all her equipment.
I needed to know how to use all my gear in and out to fix things when they broke.
Because I was doing or planning to do the expedition solo and unsupported, it means I couldn't accept any help.
And if I did accept any help along the way, like if something broke and I needed to have a fix sent to me, I would lose my unsupported status.
You know, would wake up sort of overwhelmed with the idea that I was training to be alone in Antarctica.
I knew that actually at times when I was in Antarctica, the closest people to me would be in the International Space Station above my head, which is psychotic [laughs].
She had no sponsors for the expedition, so she dug into her savings to pay for it.
Aside from funding the expedition, Monae says one of the toughest tasks was figuring out exactly what she could take with her.
If you're sort of imagining what someone looks like when they're on these expeditions, um, there's me.
I have a harness around my waist and a rope tied from the harness to two sleds that I'm pulling behind me, and those sleds have to hold everything that I need for the two months that I'll be on expedition.
All that weight meant Monae would be burning a lot of calories every single day.
Trying to figure out what sort of calorically dense food I will actually eat out there, how to make sure I'm getting, you know, enough fat, enough carbs, enough protein.
And then on top of that, trying to make my gear as light as possible, so re-weighing all of my gear.
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