Snow Trek: Women Tackle Antarctica
An American and a Norwegian set off for Antarctica on Monday, 12 days later than scheduled, in hopes of becoming the first women to ski across the frozen continent.
Ann Bancroft, 45, the American, and Liv Arnesen, 47, had planned to take 100 days to complete their expedition, which was due to begin Nov. 1. But they must speed up their trek to finish it before the ocean freezes over in mid-February, which would make it impossible for a boat to pick them up when they are through.
The explorers, who plan to ski and windsail between 10 and 12 hours a day, are attempting to become the first women to ski across the world's southernmost continent with no outside assistance.
Towing a heavy sled, the two plan to trek 2,400 miles across Antarctica, where the winds blast up to 100 mph and summertime temperatures average minus-30 degrees. The journey would take them across the South Pole.
The expedition — which took two years to plan, with much of that spent raising about $1.5 million in sponsorship — was delayed by high winds and low clouds, which prevented their chartered Ilylushin 76 aircraft from landing on the Blue Ice 1 runway, 125 miles south of the Antarctic coastline.
"It is a huge relief. The last two days have been quite tough — it has been hard to sleep," said Arnesen, who had been waiting in Cape Town for the OK to get going.
They had planned to reach the South Pole by Christmas and complete their journey at McMurdo Station on the Ross ice shelf by mid-February. Since they are starting 12 days late, they will try to push farther than planned each day.
Throughout their journey, the two plan to use high-tech equipment to relay their experiences over the Internet to millions of schoolchildren around the globe.
Bancroft traveled to the North Pole by dogsled in 1986, becoming the first woman to reach the pole across the ice. In 1993, she led the first all-woman team to ski from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole, becoming the first women to journey to both poles.
Six years ago, Arnesen became the first woman to ski alone and unaided to the South Pole. She also led the first unaided women's crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap.
They will carry an emergency transmitter and an airplane will be waiting on standby in case anything goes wrong.
"It can be dangerous," Bancroft said. "You have to be self-sufficient, because you can push the button, but that doesn't mean they can get to you."