Antarctic explorers give up

The explorers pull their 110 kg sledge across the Antarctic

By Dominic Hughes in the Antarctic

Poor weather conditions have forced two women explorers to abandon the final stage of an historic trek across the continent.

Having already become the first women to traverse the land mass of Antartica, Ann Bancroft, from the United States, and Liv Arnesen, from Norway, have now called in a ski plane to pick them up.

They will complete the final stage of their journey across Antarctica by air.

Having achieved their aim of becoming the first women to traverse the continent on foot, they still had another 700 km (437 miles) to travel across the permanent ice shelf of the Ross Sea before they reached the safety of McMurdo station, the US-run research base.

They were dependent on wind sails to help them drag their 110 kg (50lb) sledge, but for once the Antarctic winds failed to blow.

Both women still felt that they could complete the journey to McMurdo, but called off the venture after waiting for 24 hours as the southern winter was approaching fast.

Extreme cold did not deter them but lack of wind did

The two women are now pulling their sledge through white-out conditions in an effort to find the safest place for the aircraft to land.

The nearest available airfield is seven hours flying time from their position, but strong winds are currently delaying take-off.

Having covered more than 2,700 kilometres over the last 94 days, the two explorers say it is a disappointing end to their journey.

However, they have been buoyed by over 500 e-mail messages of support and the knowledge that they achieved their main objective.