Adelaide adrenaline junkie Katie Sarah has set her sights on making history as she jets off in an attempt to trek the North Pole on a three-week adventure.
If she can make it to the last degree of the North Pole, she said she would become the first woman to travel to both poles, plus climb the seven tallest mountains and seven tallest volcanoes on each continent.
The feat is known as the Grand Slam Seven-Seven and she told the ABC this week she believed only a few people had successfully achieved what was setting out to do.
"[In] January last year I discovered I was going to be the first woman ever to do the seven summits and the seven volcanic summits," she said.
"That's the highest peak and the highest volcano on each continent.
"From what I can gather, only about eight or nine people in total have done that and I'm the only female.
"When you narrow it down to then what's called the Explorer's Grand Slam, which is adding in the two poles, North and South Pole, I believe there's only about three men who have done that."
Polar bears and moving ice
Proving how addicted to the adrenaline game she is, it was only as far back as December last year that she completed an 111-kilometre trek to the South Pole.
The 50-year-old said she expected this year's trek to the North Pole to throw some unique challenges at her, with moving ice and polar bears among the dangers.
"I think it will be quite different to most of the other trips I've done," she said.
"It's certainly different to a mountain because there's no altitude in this one.
"The North Pole has no altitude but because it's moving ice, the ice does provide some obstacles.
"We're hoping not to see any but there are polar bears in the area whereas there's no wildlife in the South Pole.
"It will be a different trip in many ways."
'I just love the challenge'
Ms Sarah has climbed some of the toughest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, with more than a decade of training and climbing under her belt.
She also suffered numerous injuries throughout her travels, including an ankle injury picked up in a rock climbing accident in the Adelaide Hills which she said was her worst injury.
But she said she wasn't putting her body through severe strain to make history — it was all for the experience.
"I love the challenge," she said.
"One mountain, even if it's very similar altitude, can be completely different to another mountain.
"Different countries, different terrain, different difficulties, every trip is different.
"The people and the locations of these trips are the motivating factors."
Ms Sarah said she was due to return home before Easter.
