Antarctic Skiers Await an Airlift
The first two women to ski across Antarctica waited in whiteout conditions at the edge of a frozen ocean for a plane to airlift them on the first leg of their journey home.
Ann Bancroft, 45, of Scandia, Minn., and Liv Arnesen, 47, of Oslo became the first women to ski across the continent Sunday. Each pulled a 250-pound sled about 1,700 miles from one edge of the continent to the other via the South Pole. Thursday was the 94th day of the trip.
The crossing done, now they must travel 460 miles to a pickup point at McMurdo Base. But after 30 miles of hard travel over the ice shelf, they decided they would not reach McMurdo before next Thursday, the final day that the boat could stay there without being frozen in.
They ended their trek with a call to schoolchildren in Faribault, Minn.
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