RUTH STORM - Wartburg College

Storming the
Globe
ruth storm has literally traveled to the ends of earth in search of adventures
by Saul Shapiro
Ruth Storm’s idea of a “family vacation”
may differ from yours. Storm ’81
took a three-week trek in April across
high Himalayan passes to the Mount Everest
Base Camp with sons Frederick, 21, and
Harrison, 19.
Mom wanted to check out the planet’s
highest peak for a possible climb. Why not?
“I’ve developed an interest in outdoor,
extreme expedition-type adventures,” said
the London-based private-equity executive
turned business coach. “I enjoy long-distance
cycling — Africa, Alaska, and Europe; skiing
in extremes, and mountain climbing.”
Storm ’81 has literally gone to the ends of
the Earth in pursuit of daunting challenges.
On April 20, 2010, she completed
the “Last Degree Expedition” — a five-day
journey from 89o N that culminated 1o
later at the North Pole, skiing across and
occasionally “swimming” between ice floes
where no land mass exists. Only 60 people
have accomplished that feat.
Twenty months later, she upped the ante.
On Dec. 29, 2011, Storm became the
14th woman — and 200th person — to
complete an unsupported 560-mile journey
on skis from the edge of Antarctica (sea level)
to the South Pole (9,186 feet) over 39 days.
But she didn’t stop there, venturing to
the ice-laden Ellsworth Mountains, with
elevations surpassing the Rockies.
“I spent 10 days in the Ellsworth Range
with a female guide. We climbed eight
mountains total — four of which had
never been climbed before. I found that
thrilling. It was even more fun than skiing
to the South Pole. It’s just mindblowing that
you can stand somewhere on Earth where
nobody’s ever been.”
She scratched Mount Everest from
her to-do list. “Too crowded and too
commercial,” she said, citing 548 people who
reached the peak last spring.
Instead, she took a 19-day hike across the
High Pass (Alpine) Route in Switzerland
—16 passes and 220 miles with the total
climb equivalent to an ascent of 12.1 miles,
far surpassing Everest.
During the past six years, Storm has:
• Bicycled across the southern reaches
of Alaska, including from the Kenai
Peninsula to Mount Elias along the
Canadian border, and north to Denali
National Park (Mount McKinley).
• Bicycled 1,500 miles on two sections of
the Tour d’Afrique through Tanzania,
Malawi, and Zambia (the entire tour is
Cairo to Cape Town).
• Run the London Marathon.
• Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with
Harrison.
“I’ve always had an interest in these kinds
of things,” Storm said. “I was always reading
books about adventures. But it mainly
manifested itself when I began meeting
people who’d do them. Then I did a few
things and started doing more. My kids
were growing up and my career was winding
down a bit — and it does take a bit of money
and time.”
The biggest challenge, she said, has been
mental.
Ruth Storm biked across southern Alaska (p.16) and skied to the South Pole .
“I’m not an athlete,” she said, “but I’m
strong, and I’m fit to do these things —
at my pace. When I ran the (London)
marathon I didn’t have a particularly good
time, but I had a lot of energy when I
finished. I could have run it a lot faster, but I
was just mentally prepared to finish.
“In any of these long-distance events,
you have to have the mental endurance,
stamina, and resilience to just keep going. In
Antarctica or with anything else, when it’s
scary, I live in the moment. You get through
one moment, and then there’s the next
moment and the next moment. Pretty soon
there’s more behind you than in front.”
Storm’s adventures often have served
as fundraisers. When she ran the London
Marathon and skied to the North Pole, her
supporters donated money to “b-eat,” an
eating disorders charity. Her 2007 East
African bike trek raised money for:
• Microfinance funding for the savings
and credit society operated for
members of the Kariakoo Lutheran
Church in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the
sister church of St. Anne’s Lutheran in
London.
• The Jatropha Project in Tanzania’s
Mkuranga district, providing funding
for women to set up small businesses
to grow, harvest, and use jatropha, an
eco-friendly cash crop for creating biodiesel,
soap, and organic fertilizers.
• Africa Now’s support for farmers to
grow, harvest, and sell chili, used as
a barrier crop to ward off elephant
damage to other crops.
WARTBURG MAGAZINE 17