Two Women Ski to South Pole

Two Women Ski to South Pole

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Two adventurers bidding to become the first women to ski across Antarctica reached the South Pole on Tuesday, pulling in for a full day of rest and fresh supplies after two months on open ice.

Explorers Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen reached the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station after 64 days of skiing and windsailing hampered by bad weather, including whiteouts and a lack of wind to help push their sleds.

Bancroft, 45, of Scandia, Minn.U.S., and Liv Arnesen, 47, of Oslo, Norway, have covered nearly 1,300 miles. They planned to rest about 24 hours before setting out for the final leg, estimated by their Web site at 900 miles.

They have until Feb. 22 to reach the Ross Ice Shelf just southeast of New Zealand, where a boat has been chartered to take them away. That's the last date for scheduled air and sea travel from Antarctica as ice closes in, temperatures drop and days shorten.

Both women are in good mental shape, though Bancroft was nursing a problem with a pectoral muscle, Hartwell said. Their equipment was battered, but they had new sleds and sails available to them at the Pole.

In 1994, Arnesen became the first woman to ski alone and unaided to the South Pole ¡ª a 50-day journey. Bancroft was the first woman to ski to both the North Pole and the South Pole.

Throughout the journey, the two teachers have used high-tech computer equipment to relay their experiences to schoolchildren around the world via the Internet.