WOMEN in Cyprus who want to take part in a 500-mile ski trek across the Antarctic to the South Pole next year should submit their applications today, the final deadline.
Around a dozen women from Cyprus have already applied to take part in the Commonwealth Women’s Antarctic Expedition in December 2009, expedition leader Felicity Aston said yesterday.
Only one woman from Cyprus will be chosen to make the trek with seven other women from Ghana, India, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand, Jamaica and the United Kingdom
“I’ve had around a dozen applications from Cyprus so far so there is still time for more women to apply,” said Aston, an experienced Polar traveller.
Asked whether the applicants were Cypriot or foreign women living on the island, Aston added: “Obviously, I don’t want to give too much away, but we have had more applications from Cypriot women than from people who now have permanent residence in Cyprus.”
The eight-woman team will ski more than 500 miles across the icy wastes of Antarctica to reach the South Pole on New Year’s Day 2010. The 30 to 50 day journey will involve sleeping in tents on the ice in temperatures down to –30°C, pulling sledges full of food, fuel and equipment weighing 80kg, battling through vicious snowstorms and avoiding treacherous crevasses hidden beneath the snow surface.
The Cypriot woman selected to join the team will become the first representative of her nation, male or female, to ski to the South Pole.
“We are not necessarily looking for super-human athletes. What is really important is the determination to succeed and a passion for adventure,” said Aston.
Other characteristics needed would include a sense of humour, initiative, determination, tolerance and the ability to be a team player.
“As for age, we do not ask for anyone’s age or date of birth on the application forms. This is because I have trained women in their 50s as well as women in their 20s to travel in the Polar Environment. If the mental attitude is right, age isn’t important. Obviously, there is a fitness issue – but I have met women in their 50s who could walk all over me in terms of strength and stamina!
“We do, however, ask that applicants are 18 or over.”
Despite having to travel through one of the most hostile environments on earth, the upside is that the women will experience a wilderness that few have had the privilege to see, “endless white horizons of ancient snow and ice, big skies where the sun never sets, distant shimmering mountains untouched by man and a silence more complete than any other,” according to the organisers.
“Skiing to the South Pole has become a journey that is a symbol of personal endeavour and achievement. By creating a team from such diverse countries and cultures across the Commonwealth, the expedition has the ability to demonstrate the potential of greater inter-cultural understanding and exchange, while at the same time, highlighting the core values that we all have in common.”
The endeavour involves 12 weeks for the expedition including travel to and from Antarctica between November 2009 and January 2010, and attendance at a two-week training camp in Europe in late February or early March 2009. Costs are on a sponsorship basis, which the candidates will assist with in their home countries.
When they return home, the women pledge to undertake a series of lectures in schools and institutions across their own country for which full training will be provided.
n Candidates from Cyprus can apply through an application form on the expedition website and a short-list of applicants will be interviewed in August. The closing date for applications for Cyprus is today, August 8.
http://www.commonwealthexpedition.com/
