As she skis across Antarctica, Felicity Aston is taking on dangers including crevasses, storms, injuries and frostbite. Her biggest challenge, though, has been adapting to solitude in the seemingly endless expanses of white.
For more than three weeks, she has been skiing toward the South Pole pulling two sledges packed with supplies. Aston is attempting to become the first woman to cross Antarctica alone, and has covered about one-third of the journey of more than 1,000 miles.
The British adventurer expects to reach the South Pole this week, then pick up more supplies and head out again for the other side of the frozen continent. She said the emotional toll has been much greater than she expected.
"When that plane disappeared and left me on the wrong side of Antarctica all by myself with two little sledges, it really hit me that I'm completely responsible for myself," she told The Associated Press in an interview by satellite phone. "It's just you. You have to sort out your problems, and that makes you feel very vulnerable."
When alone in Antarctica, little problems can easily become big problems.
One ski binding is slightly out of alignment and has been making her ankle ache.
The three cigarette lighters she brought to start her camp stove suddenly stopped producing a flame in the cold, leaving her with only matches for a time, though she finally managed to get the lighters working again, intermittently.
After each day on the ice, she pitches her tent, cooks a freeze-dried meal on her stove and posts messages on Twitter.
The 34-year-old used to work as a meteorologist in Antarctica and is a veteran adventurer who has led team expeditions in the Antarctic, the Arctic and Greenland. She said she decided to attempt her first solo expedition to test her personal limits and also because she was curious about being on her own.
Aston set out Nov. 25 from the Ross Ice Shelf, climbing a glacier dotted with crevasses in the Transantarctic Mountains before emerging onto the continent's vast central plateau.
She initially hoped to reach the South Pole by Dec. 13, in time for the centennial celebration of Norwegian Roald Amundsen's achievement in leading the first team to reach the pole. But initial flight delays and a storm slowed her progress.
By IAN JAMES
Associated Press