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Adventurer Richard Parks is back on dry land after guiding one of his favorite actors across the ice fields of Antarctica, but what did the former rugby player learn about himself and the globally famous movie star? Parks shares all with M&F.<\/em><\/p>\n As part of National Geographic\u2019s new series, Pole to Pole with Will Smith,<\/em> Richard Parks takes the Academy Award-winning actor through Antarctica. It was a significant trip for the former Wales Rugby Union team player who found himself lost when forced to retire as a result of shoulder damage in 2009. To fill a competitive void, he took up climbing and soon set new records. In 2011, Parks completed the 737 Challenge, climbing the highest mountain on seven continents, an achievement that saw him stand on both North and South poles, and what\u2019s considered the \u201cthird pole,\u201d the summit of Mount Everest.<\/p>\n He completed the task in a record 6 months, 11 days, 7 hours, and 53 minutes.<\/a>\u00a0 The following year, Parks became the first Welshman and fastest ever Brit to ski a solo, unsupported route through the South pole. As a man of color, Parks\u2019 continued accomplishments have not only broken his own barriers, but inspired people from all types of backgrounds to push through their own limits. For \u201cPole to Pole with Will Smith,\u201d however, Parks would be required to navigate the process of becoming a guide. It is during this experience that he learned a lot about his new famous friend, and himself.<\/p>\n During Episode 1 of a series that see\u2019s Smith taking on various extreme challenges, Parks served as an expert guide through one of the most treacherous environments on Earth, helping the icon to ski towards the South pole, get to grips with ice climbs, and master survival skills. The former rugby star went into this perilous journey with full faith in his less experienced client, however.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t think you achieve the mastery of craft in the way that Will has, for the duration that Will has, without having steel,\u201d explained Parks. \u201cAnd performance is performance, whether it\u2019s on a rugby field, whether it\u2019s in Antarctica, or whether it\u2019s in Hollywood productions. So no, I didn\u2019t have any doubts about him quitting. I had doubts about the continent in the sense that Antarctica is unforgiving. In these remote wilderness environments, you are submissive to Mother Nature and there are things you can control, but a lot of it you can\u2019t control.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, as Parks got to know Smith better, he became even more impressed. \u201cVery quickly, I was inspired by how courageous Will was to be vulnerable,\u201d he shares. \u201cWhat I mean by that is, when you\u2019re put in positions of adversity, your fight or flight reactions kick in. That prefrontal cortex shuts down, and Antarctica does that. You get off the plane, you\u2019re hit with minus 30 degrees, it\u2019s whiteness for as far as you can see it. The wind is scouring your face like sandpaper. And your whole being is like, \u2018S**t, get me out of here.\u2019 Even physiologically, your heart rate increases, but your blood capillaries can constrict, and they divert all of your blood to your survival organs. But through the courage to be vulnerable and through his sense of joy, he has a way of shortcutting the fear mechanism. And it\u2019s freaking incredible, because as soon as that situation of adversity doesn\u2019t elicit a fear response, you allow that prefrontal cortex to stay open, which then allows you to be more fluid in your thinking or creative in your problem solving. And, actually, what starts off as a threat situation now becomes a situation of growth. We might see it on the field with incredible athletes and sports people, but to actually witness that in Antarctica through Will, that was really inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his expertise with environments like Antarctica, Parks tells M&F that guiding at this level was a relatively new experience. \u201cThis was my chance,\u201d he says of achieving his own growth. \u201cBut what isn\u2019t new to me is teaching, is coaching, and eliciting or trying, or at least understanding the process to elicit the best self from somebody, And, actually, that\u2019s something that I take a lot of joy in: seeing other people fly. Whether that\u2019s on the rugby field with the juniors or whether that\u2019s in a corporate boardroom. On this occasion, it was with Will in Antarctica and I\u2019m really grateful for that opportunity. But very quickly after meeting Will, it became clear that he was just a really, really great human and we were able to kind of create a rapport and create a connection. I think the environment went some way to do that because Antarctica, or just extreme environments, have a way of stripping back some of the psychological and social layers that we create our identities, and we create our lives around. Very quickly, you become exposed and it\u2019s just the person, the man. Not the Hollywood legend or the rugby player, it is just two men on the ice. One with more experience than the other, but actually you\u2019re going to have to work together to get through this.\u201d<\/p>\n To follow Richard Parks on Instagram, click here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Pole to Pole with Will Smith is available now via National Geographic, Disney+, and Hulu<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n To watch the official trailer, see below. <\/strong><\/p>\nWhat Did Richard Parks Learn About Will Smith in Antarctica?<\/h2>\n
What Richard Parks Learned About Himself in Pole to Pole<\/h2>\n