Sometimes it’s teenagers wanting to sail around the world, now the south pole also seems a worthy goal. From the Guardian:

Katie Walter from Nottinghamshire plans to follow in explorer’s footsteps and become youngest to achieve Antarctica mission. One hundred years after Sir Ernest Shackleton marched across Antarctica, a 17-year-old British girl is hoping to surpass the legendary explorer as she attempts to become the youngest person to walk to the south pole.

Shackleton abandoned his attempt to walk to the south pole with 112 miles remaining ‑ subsequently telling his wife he thought she would prefer a live donkey to a dead lion ‑ but Katie Walter is taking a break from studying for her AS levels to try to complete his unfinished expedition. Katie, who lives on a farm in Nottinghamshire, flew to Argentina en route to Antarctica yesterday for a journey that will require her to traverse enormous ice fields and glaciers, before finally ascending to the polar plateau at almost 10,000ft. The wind will be against the novice explorer the entire way, providing a remorseless -50C (-58F) wind chill. The starting point will be latitude 88’23“S, Shackleton’s southernmost co-ordinates and the furthest south anyone had been at the time.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/11/katie-walter-south-pole-shackleton

What are your thoughts? Is Katie old enough? Will we see more and more teenagers pulling off stunts like this?

Topics: children, adventure, teenagers, stunts, exploration, records, young adults