by Robin Sauerwein
“I get cold really easily.” Ann Bancroft admits with a big grin.
That’s a surprising confession coming from one of the world’s most renowned polar explorers. Yet that doesn’t mean it stops her from getting to where she’s going: making expeditions across the coldest regions of the planet. In fact, it is cold places like Antarctic that fill Bancroft with wonder and possibility.
“I love wide open spaces. It is a big place and it is so alive. It is both intimidating and daunting. You stand there like a little dot,” she said.
Ann Bancroft has changed a lot from her explorer self of 20 years ago when she first headed out on the ice as the only female member of the Steger International Polar Expedition in 1986. She’s continued to make a few headlines throughout the years: Bancroft was the first woman to cross the ice to both the north and south poles; in 1995 she was inducted in the National Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2001 an estimated 3 million children and adults followed Bancroft and fellow explorer, Liv Arneson of Norway become the first women to cross Antarctica.
Although no one had done it yet, the first expedition didn’t seem like a big deal to Bancroft.
“I had my head in the clouds when I was in my 30's,” she said.
From that first expedition she learned about how much of a responsibility and privilege it was to go. That was how The Ann Bancroft Foundation, a non profit organization, dedicated to supporting girls and women realize their dreams, came about.
Today at 51, Bancroft is much more introspective, almost philosophical. The accumulation of life’s lessons and the priorities of what she knows to be really important have guided her. She is much more present to the unfolding of life than she was 20 years ago.
“I’m motivated because of my age now. I have never paid much attention to birthdays and age. There was something about turning 50 that was introspective for me. I was kind of excited about it. And this year I have been extremely aware of getting things done.”
“What’s my second act going to be about? If you want to get some things done in the world you have to stop yapping about it and go do it. It’s about legacy. It’s whittling down what your work really wants to be about and making decisions. I can’t do everything. I am being much more prudent about the things that I get involved with so I can actually make an impact,” she said.
One direction she has chosen to embark on is another polar expedition to the North Pole with co-explorer Liv Arneson in 2007.
A similar expedition in 2005 had to be abandoned due to political bureaucracy in Russia. This may be an opportunity in disguise for the two explorers.
2007 marks the International Polar Year. Not many people in the U.S. know about it but it is an important year for scientists and educators who will talk globally about environmental concerns like global warming around the Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland areas.
“It’s important for the two of us, the urgency of this trip, she said. “Enough to dust off my old cranky knees to go on this expedition.”
Along side this expedition, Exploring Cultural Conflicts: Journeys toward Peace, a K-12 curriculum, will help kids develop skills needed to resolve conflicts peacefully. The curriculum has been translated into several languages and will remain in the classrooms long after the expedition is over.
And thanks to technology, the explorers will have a large audience. Satellite phones and the internet will allow millions of kids the ability to experience the Arctic through the eyes and voices of Bancroft and Arneson.
“It is such a great teaching vehicle,” she said.
When Bancroft begins training for the expedition, part of her routine will be dragging three tires and a heavy sled behind her up and down hills along the St. Croix Valley. She says now that she is 51, it takes more time to get in shape. Gaining weight isn’t hard but warming up is harder.
A very boring yet necessary training exercise, it allows her to mentally prepare for the trip from making lists of the numerous details to creating plans on what she would do if she fell into the ocean.
The planning and mounting of the project is almost harder than the actual expedition.
“When Liv & I get on the ice we take a communal deep breath. Everything makes sense.” It’s what we know. It’s a great relief,” she said.
When Bancroft and Liv Arneson completed their 2001 historic crossing of Antarctic, women from all over the world wrote to them about how their expedition sparked their own expedition dreams. They were not too old. Antarctic resonated with these women.
“The people who write to us about their dreams are not outdoor people either. It’s a great metaphor for things they do. I can talk to any group. It’s about overcoming challenges, the barriers you create,” she said.
“The thing that’s most on my mind is the foundation and just what a privilege to have opportunity to use these trips to give back in ways that have nothing to do with the trip. I get so much back from it when I watch young girls get inspired to do their thing whatever that is. It’s taught me so much about the act of giving. You get so much more back, always. There is no exception to that rule in my experience.”
One of the activities The Ann Bancroft Foundation does is award mini grants to girls grades 6-10 to help them explore an interest and to help adolescent girls, who do not have an advocate for themselves. It’s all about self esteem.
As a teacher, Bancroft is quick to recognize other’s gifts. Risk is relevant to the risk taker. She insists she is not any better than the single mother of three or the corporate executive who is out doing her work.
“Everyone makes a difference. You make the most positive difference when you are fulfilled by following your dream. I put my best foot forward where I am doing what I love,” she said.
Ann said that women are quick to elevate others and often times discount their own achievements. Rather than compare her achievements to theirs, she believes that we are all contributing.
“We all contribute. Explorers are hopeful creatures by nature. Our trips are slow and long. That is true with all we do. When I was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame, I looked at all these pictures of women before me. If those women hadn’t done those things, I wouldn’t have got my stab at the pole. People broke down barriers for me. When we go forward and do things we are standing on a lot of shoulders and we will be stood upon. It brings us all along,” she said.
Life’s lessons have prepared Bancroft for the future. The experiences in her life are on a much deeper level; from the kids who will follow them on their expedition to enjoying her co-explorer, Liv everyday, to laughing as much as she can. It’s about enjoying life.
Bancroft laughs a lot about her age. She recalled one night during the 2001 expedition when they were in their tent and needed to read a number off a card for the satellite phone. They couldn’t see it because the numbers were too small.
“We were sitting in tent one night and it was so cold. We had our glasses on but in a tent that’s 50 below zero they instantly frost up and fog up and you keep clearing it but they keep fogging up. I said we are so pathetic there’s a hundred years between us and we can’t read the card to make a phone call. We would just crack up every night about something that had to do with our ailing bodies not cooperating,” she said.
“Life is so reflective to the expedition. People always say, ‘why you always say it is fun.’ Fun doesn’t mean that it’s not hard. Actualizing a dream doesn’t mean that it’s not difficult. Expeditions are filled with what Liv calls a salad of emotions. You can go from tears of despair to absolute knee slapping laughter depending on what the other person is doing. Feeling so good one day about your body and that it’s working and the next day you feel horrible. It doesn’t mean that life is easy necessarily everyday. It’s not simplistic in that way. I guess I do enjoy embracing the salad,” she said.
Another lesson she’s learned recently on aging was while she was on a canoe trip with her mother. She realized that her mother couldn’t carry the same weight she used to carry on their traditional trips. The importance of experiencing the trip together was far more important than anything else. With age comes a certain type of honesty that she has learned to face about herself.
“I don’t want to be one of those stubborn people who says don’t help me.” Although Bancroft footnotes this by admitting that she _is_ stubborn and that she will probably have to work on it. But as she ages, she says, the older self must adjust so that, “The quality of life follows me. It takes grace.”
Although she never says never about doing another expedition after 2007, her future work may take on a new shape and form.
“Maybe I become the elder who comes home and finds a new venue to share those stories and lessons,” she said. She also admits to being quite a homebody and would like to spend time with her family. But whatever path she takes, she will always be involved in teaching.
“I understand now why my older friends say it’s so fun getting older. I get it. I ‘m all smiles about it, she says and adds, “Not always about my sore joints but the quality of life is so great.”
(Publishing source, "Best of Times")
