A PAIR of Evenwood adventurers have flown home after completing a once-in-a-lifetime Arctic survival challenge.
Ros Seagrave and Sabrina Parker made their own shelter and survived in temperatures up to -30C during their week in Sweden.
The two friends raised £7,394.29 for Butterwick Hospice so that they could take part in the gruelling challenge.
Ms Seagrave said: “The whole experience was challenging at times but very rewarding.
“ We are feeling a massive sense of achievement after experiencing and taking part in activities and tasks that we would never normally have had the chance to do.
“The natural shelter took eight hours as a team of eight to build. It involved chopping trees to make a frame then chopping spruce to make the thatch.
“We had to do this while keeping fires going to melt snow to drink and keep warm. The snow hole involved shovelling snow into a heap higher than our heads, compacting it then digging it out, again taking several hours.”
The pair also spent a night in a Scandinavian tent and had to maintain an hourly fire watch.
The combined fundraising of all those who took part in the adventure was £39,000.
The Evenwood pair spent almost a year gathering cash for the hospice by holding coffee mornings, charity nights and supermarket bag packs.
Ms Seagrave said: “We are over the moon.
To raise that amount of money with no previous fundraising experience has left us feeling proud and accomplished.”
The duo are no strangers to adventure having previously made makeshift shelters for an overnight stay at Hamsterley forest followed by a muddy-boot camp.
