Jade Hameister is a Melbourne schoolgirl with a huge quest - to become the youngest person to complete the Polar Hat-trick (skiing to both poles and across Greenland). Together with Icetrek, in April 2014, at age 14, she skied 150km to the North Pole, in May 2017 550km across Greenland and at 16 she will attempt the biggest of the three challenges, to ski a new route to the South Pole from the contiguous coast of Antarctica. Her father Paul, hoimself a Seven Summiteer and participant in the North Pole and Greenland trips, again joins the team, as does cameraman Ming D'Arcy and assistant Heath Jamieson. Both have previously been to the South Pole. Lastly, IPGA Master Polar Guide and Icetrek owner Eric Philips will guide the team.
The team begins December 6, 2017 from the Ross Ice Shelf at the extreme eastern end of the Transantarctic Mountains. The route follows the lower section of the Reedy Glacier (pioneered by Icetrek last year) then turns sharply west and up the untrodden Kansas Glacier to the Standford Plateau. Here, above 2500m elevation, the team makes an early entry to the Antarctic Plateau and slowly ascends for 4 degrees of latitude (over 430km) to the South Pole at over 2800m to arrive mid-January.
