Polar Explorer Tells Stuart Students Why Their Dreams Are Within Reach

Candace Braun

Travelling to the windiest, coldest, most remote continent on the globe sounds like a task that not many would want to attempt. But for two women, it was the realization of a lifelong dream

In 2001, Minnesota native Ann Bancroft, 45, and Norwegian Liv Arneson, 47, set out on a journey to become the first women to cross the continent of Antarctica. Walking, skiing, and ski-sailing across the ice, the women tugged their 250-lb. sleds filled with their belongings through temperatures more than 30 degrees below zero.

On Friday, September 24, Ms. Bancroft visited Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart to relay her adventures and to encourage students to realize that women can do anything they put their mind to.

Internationally recognized as a leader dedicated to inspiring women and girls to pursue their dreams, Ms. Bancroft has been featured in the book, Remarkable Women of the Twentieth Century, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1995. In 1998 she joined up with Ms. Arneson to form "yourexpedition," a business designed to provide organizations and individuals with tools for inspiration and guidance to succeed in life.

The women also co-wrote No Horizon Is So Far, a chronicle of their journey across Antarctica, which recently came out in paperback.

Ms. Bancroft and Ms. Arneson met through word of mouth about the other's polar explorations, and decided to take their journey through Antarctica together. The two women researched Antarctica for years before making the 94-day journey across 1,717 miles of ice. Faced with a continent the size of the United States and Mexico combined, they knew that the task would be long and strenuous.

To get into shape, the women pulled car tires equal in weight to their sleds across gravel roads every other day for months. They also talked to people who had been to Antarctica in the past to get a better idea of how to dress, what was important to bring, and the key points for survival. One tip Ms. Bancroft learned was to keep her pens and toothbrush close to her heart so they wouldn't freeze when she had to use them. Writing in a journal every night, she would write with one pen until the ink froze, then exchange it for another one in her long johns' pocket.

The women would also eat oatmeal for breakfast every morning with oil instead of milk, because they needed the fat for the 15 hours of strenuous exercise they endured each day.

One way they found to speed up the travelling process was ski-sailing, similar to parasailing, but done with skis on ice. Large parachutes flying high above the women would pull them across the ice towards their destination at speeds of up to 20 m.p.h.

The entire experience was a very exhilarating one, said Ms. Bancroft: "You're half-scared and half having the best time of your life ... We really learned to respect the wind."

One time however, Ms. Bancroft was lifted straight up into the sky with her 250-lb. sled. From that moment on, Ms. Arneson called her "Mary Poppins," said Ms. Bancroft: "It's important to laugh at yourself during the hard times."

What with hitting several bumps and holes in the ice and getting their parachute strings tied up in knots, it took the women 64 days to get to the South Pole, their halfway point.

"Antarctica surprised us every day; it was always harder than we thought it would be," said Ms. Bancroft.

The women came very close to concluding their journey on foot, but as the end of summer approached and the cold, sunless weather was upon them, they had to call a plane to take them to their boat as they were still too far to make it on their own. Very discouraged at that point, they were at a loss for words when one fifth grade class that had been following along with the women wanted to talk to them on their satellite phone. However it was these students that helped them remember why they were there.

"[The students] were so articulate about what we came to do; we had almost forgotten," said Ms. Bancroft.

Now, after appearing together on CNN and the David Letterman show, the two women are planning their next big trip together across the Arctic Ocean.

"Most of the time chasing a dream is hard, but ... lots of small steps can help you make your goal," said Ms. Bancroft. "It doesn't come in one big leap."