Chessell reflects on Antarctic climb feat.: "'All of us, after probably three or four days, admitted to each other that the first and second day was the toughest of all and that we were all thinking, 'goodness, we've taken on a pretty big challenge, what excuse can I come up with to get out of this',' he said."
Duncan Chessell was obviously on the news the other night and he was remarkably relaxed. Very Adelaide really. I mean, this is a guy who led his team to the top of Antarctica's highest peak and he was there with his wife and little baby just chatting away as though he had been out the back mowing the lawn and the garden looked nice. Adelaide people can achieve such extraordinary heights, quite literally, but they are very self effacing about it. His comments are typical- 0h okay, I got myself into this, it's heaps bigger than I thought, but we'd better get our act together because we are here and there is no way out. That kind of reality check seems to produce extraordinary results. You aim for your goals, you realise maybe you were a bit over enthusiastic but basically it comes down to you and your mates, you and your family. The doubt he'd succeed is what pulls in the head of Adelaide people. You know how much sledging you will get it you stuff up...and that awful Adelaide message "Well, you should have thought. Why didn't you think?..." and you come back with "But I thought..." and before you know it someone is saying , " But you didn't think..." Duncan Chessell obviously realised he was on a mission and that he had to keep his head straight and go one bit at a time...but for him, it's a remarkable story of leadership and team effort. Remarkable.
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