Growing up on a farm, Tori James spent much of her early years outdoors, building shelters and playing in muddy streams. She 1  herself as an ambitious and adventurous child and owes the Duke of Edinburgh Award to her love for 2 . James says she could never have 3  that one day she might be the youngest British woman to 4  the peak of Mount Everest.

Today, James is a(n) 5 adventurer. Alongside her successful climb of the world's 6 peak in 2007, she was a member of the first all-female team to 7 a tiring 650-kilometre ski race to the Magnetic North Pole in 2005, and in 2014 she set the 8 for the longest non-stop open-sea kayak crossing in UK waters.

Yet ahead of her first exploration at the age of 18, James had 9 her ability to last a month out in the cold without the comfort of a hot bath. "It's only by 10 our comfort zone that we understand our true potential," she explains, "That's when the 11 happens."

James encourages would-be adventurers not to be 12 by the conventional image of the rugged (粗犷的), hardy explorer. "I am such a believer that, with the right support and skills, everyone can bring 13 to an exploration," she adds, "Sometimes, it's only out in the field that someone's 14 talents emerge, 15 in the process of exploration."