Bancroft Arnesen Expedition (Minneapolis, Minn.)
As young girls, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen read a recount of Sir Ernest Shackleton's legendary attempt to cross Antarctica that stirred their imaginations and, despite being completely unaware of one another, they both declared the same childhood dream: to ski across Antarctica. In 1998, the women met for the first time, discovered they were kindred spirits, and prepared to achieve their childhood dream. Starting Nov. 13, 2000, Bancroft and Arnesen skied and sailed across Antarctica for 94 days and 1,717 miles, pulling 250 pound sleds full of food and equipment, enduring temperatures as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit and winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour. On Feb. 11, 2001, the women stepped off the Shackleton Glacier and onto the Ross Ice Shelf, officially making history as the first women to cross Antarctica's landmass on foot. The women chronicled their journey in the book, No Horizon is so Far (Da Capo Press, October 2003).
