Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 1, 1992 TAG: 9203010242
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAYNE CLARK LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"Life," said Will Steger, an adventurer who, with five fellow explorers and a team of 36 sled dogs, in 1990 became the first to cross the interior of Antarctica on foot.
"You miss the smell of grass. The sight of the forest. The sound of rain," he continued. "It was like another planet. There was no life."
Steger and a multinational team completed the crossing in March 1990, seven months after they set out. Now, Steger is on a tamer journey, promoting his book, "Crossing Antarctica" (Knopf, $25), which is an account of the adventure.
The frozen continent at the bottom of the world previously had been flown over and snowmobiled across, but no one had ever made the 4,000-mile crossing on skis and by sled dog.
Steger's original intent in organizing the expedition was to focus world attention on the region before the Antarctic Treaty was renegotiated in 1991. The original pact, signed by 12 nations in 1961, stipulated that Antarctica would be free of territorial claims, banned military activity and established it as a nuclear-free zone. Open to debate last fall was the question of whether mining would be permitted on the continent. The 26 nations involved in the pact voted in October to prohibit mining.
It took three years to set up the expedition, whose total cost reached a staggering $11 million.
"I couldn't justify a personal adventure at that cost," Steger acknowledged, and so besides drawing attention to the region, the expedition had scientific goals. The Russian team member was doing meteorological studies; the Chinese member is a glaciologist; the French member was collecting psychological and physiological data. The English and Japanese team members are expert dog handlers.
The trip also had an educational component. Each day, the team sent a message via satellite to the expedition's headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., where employees developed lesson plans based on the team's activities. The lessons were sent to classrooms in 15 or so countries around the world.
Scientific and educational endeavors notwithstanding, the trip also was undertaken in the spirit of adventure.
"Antarctica was the ultimate unknown," he said. "I wanted the plain adventure of crossing a frontier, to be able to travel like [people did] 100 years ago. I wanted to come back with a feeling for what Antarctica was and that's why I chose the longest possible route."
An increasing number of well-heeled tourists are seeking similar thrills, albeit in more limited, less dangerous and infinitely more commodious ways. In 1819, no human had set foot on the continent. By 1958, it had been completely mapped and explored. An estimated 5,500 tourists are expected to visit during the '91-'92 summer season (which runs from November to March) on ships operated by U.S.-based tour operators.
But tracking the exact number of tourists is difficult, said Nadene Kennedy, polar activities coordinator for the National Science Foundation. At the beginning of each season, U.S. tour operators report to and coordinate their schedules with the NSF, the agency that funds and manages U.S. programs in Antarctica. But weather conditions and problems with ships can mean changes in those schedules. Moreover, the NSF figures don't reflect the numbers of tourists traveling with non-U.S. tour operators.
"It's so hard to keep a handle on what's happening with Antarctic tourism, especially ship-based tourism [which accounts for the bulk of visits]," Kennedy noted. "We hear rumors of vessels [other than those run by U.S. companies], but we have no way of knowing how many ships, how many passengers and how many cruises."
NSF does know that tourism rose steadily in the early to mid-'80s and then shot up dramatically in the last two or three years. With the rise in tourists came complaints from scientists who previously had had the place to themselves. In 1988, representatives from NSF met with tour operators, drew up a list of guidelines and imposed regulations.
Last year, seven U.S.- and Canadian-based tour operators formed the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators and imposed their own set of guidelines aimed at protecting the region's fragile environment. Said Steger, "I see tourism as a very important lobby for Antarctica. It's important, but as with any other fragile and remote area, it must be regulated."
As Steger noted in his book, the coastal regions that tourists see are one vision of Antarctica; the interior holds quite another reality.
The "majestic coastlines, snow-peaked mountains, fields of ice and snow, penguins and seals" he had seen in pictures account for only 2 percent of the continent. Few have ventured into the icy heart of the continent, which is coated by an ice sheath two to three miles thick. Among the early explorers was Robert Falcon Scott, who, before freezing to death in 1912 only 11 miles from safety, described Antarctica simply as "an awful place."
by CNB