Matty McNair

While we were at the Robbie Burns night at the legion on Saturday night (January 26, 2013) we had the awesome opportunity to meet Matty McNair. Matty has lived in Iqaluit since 1990 and is both famous and imfamous. She is a wonderful down to earth person that has accomplished so much!

Some of Matty's accomplishments are as follows:
1997 leading the first ever all-female expedition to the Geographic North Pole.
2000 she led an expedition across Ellesmere Island through the Sverdrup Pass.
2003/04 she led two ski-all-the-way expeditions to the South Pole.
2003 crossed the Greenland Ice Cap with her children Sarah and Eric by ski-kites with dog sled support.
2004/2005 completed an unsupported ski expedition to the South Pole, again accompanied by her children Sarah and Eric, who became the youngest persons to ski to the South Pole.
2007 drove a dogsled with Richard Hammond in a race to the North Magnetic Pole as part of Top Gear: Polar Special. This journey was cut short before her party reached the pole because the other competitors reached the destination first.
She is the first American to ski to both the North and South Poles.

In December of 2011 she was invited to Windsor Castle by the Queen and Prince Phillip to discuss her many adventures. She also loves to dance and she invited Jacquie and I to her dance classes held every Thursday night at the Catholic Church Hall. When she was telling us about the dancing she said "I should tell you that I'm here for 2 more weeks and then go to Iceland for 2 months". When we asked her why she was going to Ice land she answered that she was "Pole Training" Now the very first thing that came to my mind was Randy and Liczy and the exercise pole that they have in their dining room (that some affectionately call the stripper pole - Liczy quite often tries to train many of us in the use of that pole, however in the most part, to no avail) The "Pole Training" that Matty is talking about is how to survive trekking to the North and South Pole

The other thing that Matty is passionate about is her dogs. She has about a dozen or so sled dogs in Iqaluit. She has taken a dog team around the perimeter of Baffin Island, about a 4000KM trek.

Below is a link to a Youtube Video about her sled dogs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gS7mdqC6UU



Jacquie and I ejoyed meeting Matty she was so down to earth and very interesting to talk to. While she was regailing us with stories we had to remind ourselves that she is internationally renowned for her accomplishments and a local celebrity.

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