Mardi Philips 🇦🇺 🇮🇹

Hello!

The outdoors has been a part of my life as long as I can remember! I grew up in Hobart, Tasmania, with an adventurous spirit, an affinity for the cold, and a polar explorer for a dad. Stories and photos from his expeditions sparked an early interest in the Arctic and Antarctic. This vicarious exposure to ‘expedition life’ along with a childhood full of incredible outdoor experiences, started me on the path towards becoming a guide.

When I’m home in Australia, I work predominantly as a freelance outdoor educator, taking young people on journey based programs in the outdoors (hiking, skiing, rafting, etc). The rest of the time I can be found chasing colder temperatures, skis on and sled in tow, working as a polar guide for Icetrek Expeditions.

My first time setting foot in Antarctica was at the age of 12, and my intrigue in the icy ends of the earth has only grown since! In 2016, I headed to Svalbard for a 9 day ski trip with my dad, my first ‘expedition’. I absolutely fell in love with the Arctic, and now return to Svalbard every year to guide our polar training trips.

In 2022 I co-guided a ski crossing of Greenland from West to East (where I met Nia!). This was my first extended polar expedition and it left me dreaming of what could be next!

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Nia on Mardi

"Mardi is a new breed of polar guide. She's kind, fair, funny and could fix any item in your kit. She knows her stuff... she also knows the words to every Flight of the Concord song, a quality highly recommended for all polar teammates!"