Icelander Vilborg Arna Gissurardóttir became the first Icelander to complete a full route journey from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole on January 18th. The epic trip covered 1130 km and was completed on skis and on foot in 60 days.
While Vilborg is not the first Icelander to have reached the South Pole, as an expedition of three Icelandic men skied to the Pole from an inland position in 1996, she is indeed the very first Icelandic person to perform the complete route from the coast. She camped for one night at the Amundsen Scott South Pole Station and was picked up the next morning in a twin otter aircraft.
The Icelandic woman unfortunately lost her solo status 12 days before she completed her trip when she had to be resupplied with extra food and fuel. Vilborg had originally planned to cover the 1130 km in 50 days. She maintained a blog of her journey with the help of an iridium satellite phone.
Vilborg was walking to support the charity LÍF, which raises money for the Women’s Ward of Iceland’s national hospital Landspítali. Her supporters donated a total of 6.5 million ISK (€38,000) to the charity. Vilborg is expected to return to Iceland this week.
(Photo taken from Vilborg’s blog)
Oh yeah, you were missed.
welcome home!!