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The first woman to ski solo to the South Pole tells the story of
what it took to get there At home in Norway it is eight o’clock
on Christmas Eve night, but ahead, at the Amundsen–Scott base
that has been visible for hours, it is already early in the morning
of Christmas Day when Liv Arnesen, after skiing solo for 745 miles
in fifty days, finally arrives. She had been dreaming of the South
Pole for most of her forty-one years, and now, even in her joy at
having reached her goal in December 1994, she has to ask herself:
what took you so long? In Skiing into the Bright Open Arnesen
describes the exhausting, exhilarating experience of being the
first known woman to ski unsupported to the South Pole. She also
answers her own question, framing her account of her historic
expedition with her longtime struggle to find the freedom and
confidence to follow her dreams into uncharted territory.Â
From her childhood in Norway to the seasons she spent working as a
guide on Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean,
Arnesen courted the cold, and her memoir reflects the knowledge and
passion for Arctic and Antarctic exploration that grew with her
adventures in the wintry reaches of Norway and beyond. Tracing her
path from the heroic stories of explorers like Fridtjof Nansen and
Ernest Shackleton to her own crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap in
1992, Arnesen credits the inspiring feats of those who preceded her
but also describes the obstacles—including niggling
self-doubt—that tradition, convention, and downright prejudice
put in her way as she endeavored to find the support and
sponsorship granted to men in her field. A tale of solitary
adventure in the bleak and beautiful bone-chilling cold of
Antarctica, Skiing into the Bright Open tells a story of gritty
determination, thrilling achievement, and perseverance in the face
of near despair and daunting odds; it is, ultimately, an object
lesson in the power of a dream if one is willing to pursue it to
the ends of the earth.
The extraordinary story of the first two women to cross Antarctica
The fascinating chronicle of Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft’s
dramatic journey as the first two women to cross Antarctica, No
Horizon Is So Far follows the explorers from the planning of their
expedition through their brutal trek from the Norwegian sector all
the way to McMurdo Station as they walked, skied, and ice-sailed
for almost three months in temperatures reaching as low as -35°F,
all while towing their 250-pound supply sledges across 1,700 miles
of ice full of dangerous crevasses. Through website transmissions
and satellite phone calls, Ann and Liv, two former schoolteachers,
were able to broadcast their expedition to more than three million
students in sixty-five countries to teach geography, science, and
the importance of following your dreams. Â
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