WOMAN EXPLORER OF ANTARCTICA

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 64, 2 April 1937, Page 5

WOMAN EXPLORER OF ANTARCTICA

Air Mail.— Own Correspondent).*

Flight Dver Uncharted Land HUSBAND WITH HER

• (Bv

LONDON, March 9. Ingrid Christensen, first woman explorer of Antarctica, auburn-haired, f orty-fiv© years old, ' mother of six. children, two grandchildren, returned to London yesterday after her discovery by aeroplane of a new and 'Uncharted land in the South Polar continent. With her was the Norwegian ex--plorer Lars Christensen, her husband, and seventeen-year-old, blne-eyed Fie Christensen, their daughter, wha accompanied the fifty-one-day expedition. Surrounded by stacks of aerial fiinis, crates of scientific data, at the Carlton Hotel', Ingrid Christensen described the flight that put her name into Antarctic history. "More than anything, it was: a very beautiful experience. My only regret is that I did not fiy the *plane alone. I' do love flying, but the machine had so much scientific equipment that I ; conld not risk it myself. StiU No-Man's Land. "Viggo Wideroe, a member of our expedition; was; the pilot. We took off from the water and flew two and a half hours. The white; ice, the shining water were an' inspiration. At 38 de-. grees east and 70' degrees south we were snrprised to come upon land — • high mountains — which uo explorer had found before. It was believed to be only water. "We mapped and photographed the; new land carefuly. I dropped a Norwegian fiag from the 'plane. But the discovery has been only scientific so far. We have neither claimed the land nor given it a name yet. ' ' Hnsband Lars Christensen, veteran of four Antarctic exploits, stocky, blue-eyed, fifty-tWo years old, explained details of the new find. . "It has*about 300 miles of coastline. With information gained in my wife's discovery we aTe abla to chart that much more of Antarctica. The new land has mountains — huge mountains— 12,000 to 14,C0O feet high. Whaler Tows 'Plane, "Altogether we made eight major flights inland. Our 'plane was carried with ns in the oil-tanker Thorshavn (11,000 tons). We employed a small whaling boat to take the 'plane into quiet bays for the take-offs. "In forty-four hours of flying we explored about 3,000 miles of ooastline.* * Ingrid Christensen spoke gr&vely of the lnre of the ice continent. Since. 1930 she has been on four expeditions, declares she is "irresistlbly drawn hack to it." "Antarctica gets into one's braiu. It is almost impossible to 'gire up exploring once you have tried it. I shonld like'to go back many > times. Always I have vivid memories of the wonderful cold sky, the tall and beautiful icebregs. "But because of my family in Sandef jord (Norway) I cannot explore as much as I like to. I must always go back to them. ' ' For daughter Fie Christensen this voyage was an initiation to the Antarctic. She helped with photographs, felt "so lonely" there at the bottom of the world. "But now that I am back 1 would like to start over again. I thiik of sunshine on the ice, the seals, the penguins — and ithen Antarctic doesn't seem so lonely. But I don't plan to be a real explorer, as mother is." On pre' ious expeditions the blueeyed Norwegian family have discovered and named six large Antarctic tracts, two of which bear the names of Ingrid and Lars Christensen.