SOLO TO THE SOUTH POLE
and the First Women's crossing of Antarctica
by Liv Arnesen
on
Friday, 19 July 2002
2/F Sports House, So Kon Po, Causeway Bay
6.30 pm Cash Bar, 7.30pm Lecture In 1994, Norwegian explorer Liv Arnesen became the first woman in the world to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole. The expedition took 45 days, during which Ms Arnesen skied over 1,200 kilometres. The journey involved gales, crevasses, ice cliffs and a crossing Antarctica's Thiel mountains, arriving at the Pole at 2,880 metres in the sunshine on Christmas eve. In February 2001, Ms Arnesen, together with Ann Bancroft of the United States, became the first team of women to ski across Antarctica. In this lecture, Liv Arnesen gives an account of her extraordinary solo journey to the South Pole, including its hardships, exhilarating experiences, and details of her planning, route and equipment. She will also speak on her 2001 crossing of Antarctica. Liv Arnesen was born in 1953 near Oslo and is one of Norway's bestknown explorers. In addition to her famous polar treks, she led the first unsupported women's crossing of the Greenland ice cap in 1993. She now runs her own management consultant company, White Horizons, which provides motivational and team building programmes to youth and adult audiences, as well as working as a guide and cross country skiing instructor in arctic Norway. Ms Arnesen has been featured in more than 50 international print publications and wrote a book, Good Girls Do Not Ski to the South Pole about her South Pole expedition. She is visiting Hong Kong from Beijing and Shanghai, where she has been lecturing as part of a cooperation programme between Norwegian and Chinese Arctic researchers and scientists. All members and their guests are welcome to attend the lecture and tickets are available at the door. Each Member may bring 2 guests. The cost of this lecture is HK$50 for Members, HK$100 for Members' guests and HK$150 for others. Sports House is located to the right of the Hong Kong Stadium in Causeway Bay. Turn right into Stadium Path from Caroline Hill Road just before you reach the stadium. There is parking available underneath Sports House. Please call 2583 9700 for a map showing the venue location.