Saturday, December 10, 2011

  Youngest person to ski to the South Pole: Amelia Hempleman-Adams sets world record (Video)

 LONDON, UK -- Amelia Hempleman-Adams, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, joined her adventurer dad David Hempleman-Adams on the two-week, 156-kilometre trek to the South Pole from explorer Ernest Shackleton's Farthest South Point - setting the new world record for the Youngest person to ski to the South Pole, according to World Record Academy (www.worldrecordacademy.com).

  Photo: Amelia Hempleman-Adams, a 16-year-old girl has achieved her goal of becoming the youngest person to ski to the South Pole.
  ( enlarge photo )

  The Guinness world record for the
youngest person to trek overland to the South Pole without the use of dogs or motorised vehicles was set by Canadian Sarah Ann McNair-Landry, who was 18 when she reached the Pole on January 11, 2005. She made the 1,100-kilometre kite-assisted trip as part of an unsupported expedition led by her mother.

Guinness World Records also recognized the world record for the youngest person to have visited both geographical poles, set by Jonathan Silverman (USA) (b. 13 June 1990), who reached the North Pole on 25 July 1999 and the South Pole on 10 January 2002, aged 11 years 211 days.

   The nine-strong party completed the journey early Friday after a final 22-km push.

  Wiltshire-based Mr Hempleman-Adams, who was the first Briton to reach the South Pole solo and unsupported, led the Nimrod expedition.

 "I'm really proud to have actually made it and just really happy," Amelia Hempleman-Adams told AFP by satellite phone from the South Pole.

 "It's really exciting to be able to achieve something like this.

 "It hasn't quite sunk in yet that we've actually made it because it's been such a tough journey, but I'm sure it will in the next few days.

 "We arrived here and we all just hugged each other and congratulated each other and it was really nice to finally get here."

  The teenage explorer took her homework with her but her father threw it out of the sledge, saying it was adding weight.

  She said: "The biggest challenges were the freezing cold, dried food, pulling frozen poo in a sledge, and Dad's snoring. The best bit has been experiencing what dad does on expeditions."

   Hempleman-Adams had a few hours at the pole before boarding a plane back to the Union Glacier base, near the Antarctic coast, and flying back to Punta Arenas in southern Chile.

   Mr Hempleman-Adams added: "Amelia has done amazingly well. I'm very proud of her. It's one thing going off on an expedition on your own but another thing when you are looking after your own teenager daughter. Obviously, I wanted to make sure she returned to the UK with all her fingers and toes."

  The teenager said the thing she was most looking forward to was a hot shower — and seeing her schoolmates.

 "I've really missed my friends and want to thank them for all their messages, which kept me going," she said. "I'm most looking forward to a comfy bed, a shower and some chocolate brownies."

   The skiing feat was achieved as Britain and Norway prepare to mark the centenary of the epic race to the South Pole between Captain Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen, which ended in glory for the Norwegian and tragedy for Scott.