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Hey Grandpa - I made it!
16:55 p.m. EST Jan 14, 2004
Rosie arrived SP yesterday January 13, 2004 at 16:20hrs GMT. The petite, 45 year old woman made the trip solo, unsupported and in only 44 days - the same time frame as Mr. Park and his Korean team and only 2 days shy of Fiona Thornewill.
This evening she reports from the Amundsen-Scott Base at the South Pole:
"It’s been a huge challenge. I am exhausted but elated. It has been a voyage physically, psychologically and spiritually. I’m incredibly touched by the many wonderful messages of goodwill I have been told are pouring in from around the world."
Rosie, who has not slept for three days straight and endured the last two weeks with only two hours sleep a night, said that upon arrival at the South Pole she was moved to solemnly sing God Save The Queen! She also reports that she really enjoyed sharing her experiences with Fiona Thornewill and discovering that she and Fiona have much in common.
Rosie shot over a pic of herself standing by the famous board at the South Pole station. The board holds the inscription of Amundsen's and Scott's words upon their reaching the Pole. This board has a special meaning to Rosie: Her own grandfather had been set to accompany Sir Robert Falcon Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. At the last minute, however, he was deemed “too tall to fit in the tent, and was turned down. Her husband’s grandfather was Sir James Wordie, the pioneering explorer of the Arctic region and the geologist on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Transantarctic Expedition.
Inspired by her heritage, Rosie made her first polar trip to the North Pole in 1997. In the late nineties, Rosie had heard about a project that was going to send the first British all-women expedition to ski to the North Pole. She admitted she was a complete novice. “I didn’t know the difference between a tent peg and a clothes peg. But I heard about the selection process for the North Pole expedition and it was like a lit match being dropped on paraffin. Instinctively, I felt the ‘tug.’”
Rosie made the team, and, in 1997, they succeeded in what she describes as “a triumph over logistics and hormones.” There were twenty amateur women divided into five groups of four, and two female Canadian guides. Other than the guides (who went the entire distance) each group was picked up and replaced with the new team who had their own fresh supplies. They succeeded in reaching the North Pole.
In 1999, Rosie was a member of the first British all-woman team to reach the South Pole. The team skied the entire trek without guides this time, but received a resupply along the way. Now Rosie was ready to try the South Pole again, the hard way - alone and unsupported.
She made it - but not as expected. Nobody guessed how fast she would be. As Fiona reached the pole, media reported that Rosie was only half way. Surely to their surprise - Rosie instead emerged at the pole two days later! Bet grandpa is smiling smugly in polar heaven, as Rosie now hurries home to her two and a half-year old son Jock. It's anyone's guess what's in the stars for this little guy - the South Pole on Mars perhaps, in 2040 or so.
Rosie is expected to be able to get a flight from the Amundsen-Scott Base to Patriot Hills within the next couple of days. From there, depending on the weather conditions, she will be able to fly to Punta Arenas in Chile and thence back to the United Kingdom.
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