The ice maiden

TO unwind after a hard day’s work, like a lot of people, Clare Apps liked to go for a run. But when you’re living on a glacier in one of the most inhospitable environments on earth, it’s not that easy.

The camp where she lived on the Union Glacier was relatively new, which meant there was always the risk of undiscovered crevasses which could plunge the unsuspecting jogger hundreds of feet to an icy grave.

This didn’t deter Clare.

“There were flagged routes which were marked out and you were safe as long as you didn’t wander off those,” says the 24-year-old.

Somewhat bizarrely, the trick of jogging in the Antarctic is a matter of trying not to sweat, explains Clare. If you sweat, then it starts to freeze, making you cold. And with temperatures which dropped as low as minus 20 degrees centigrade, sweating could prove more dangerous than a crevasse.

As she sits in her comfortable home in the West End of Darlington, her time spent living in a two-man tent in the Antarctic seems a world away.

The only clues to Clare’s recent adventures are a picture of the snow-swept landscape of the Antarctic on the desktop of her laptop computer and slight tan lines on her face, the result of having to wear sunglasses all the time to guard against the glare of the snow and snow-blindness.

As she talks, it soon becomes evident that while the tan lines will fade, the continent has made an indelible impression on her.

Clare has recently returned from ten weeks working for Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE). The company provides back-up and support for climbers and adventurers in the region. It is the second year that Clare has worked for the company, where she helped in the kitchen tent.

After leaving university, Clare decided she didn’t want to embark on a career straight away. The idea of working in Antarctica came from her father, John, who has acted as ALE’s doctor in the past.

She knew that her decision to work there was correct the moment the plane touched down on the ice.

“You can’t begin to describe it, it’s so amazing,”

she enthuses. “You step off the plane and it’s so overwhelming. The sunlight’s so bright.

It looks magnificent, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced. There’s nothing there to obstruct any views. Everything is so clean and fresh.”

To help maintain that freshness, no permanent structures are allowed at Union Glacier camp, where Clare stayed. While this helped keep the continent clean, it made life harder for those staying there to do likewise.

“Wet wipes are the best invention ever,” she laughs, when asked the inevitable question about personal hygiene.

Her latest trip was slightly more comfortable, with proper toilet tents as opposed to the “bag and a bucket” method. Plus, there was electrically-heated water which meant every seven to ten days she could have a proper wash.

Otherwise, she says: “Everybody smells together, you don’t notice after a while.”

It was this camaraderie which made all the slight discomforts of living on Antarctica worthwhile. Clare’s working day began at around 6.30am when she started getting breakfast ready. The rest of the day would be spent helping in the kitchen and doing chores around the camp. And while the hours were long, the team spirit was one of the aspects of her trip that she remembers with particular fondness.

“Everybody wants to be there and works so hard. It’s like having your own family there.

You see them all day and you can’t get away,” she says.

“You really feel the difference in energy.

Maybe it’s because it’s light all the time, but it’s a really positive place to work. You meet people from all over the world.”

That energy in the camp was put to good use when Clare agreed to take part in the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Her time spent avoiding crevasses in training paid off and, despite being the first marathon she had ever entered, she was the fastest woman ever to complete the course in a time of 4hrs 47mins 37secs.

She then had five hours sleep, worked a 13-hour shift and was persuaded to take part in a gruelling 100km race which she finished in a time of 18 hours 58 mins 19 secs. “I had no intention of taking part in the 100km race but got talked into it,” she says.

“I lost a few brain cells that day. It was really, really hard.”

The family atmosphere was particularly evident at Christmas. A full turkey dinner with all the trimmings was prepared and each member of staff brought along a gift for another,” says Clare.

“It was a really good time and you were guaranteed a white Christmas. It was very nice being away from all the commercialism.”

Now she is back in England, Clare is contemplating where her career will take her. She hopes to join the fire service, but acknowledges that given the amount of cuts to public services, it could be a while before most brigades start recruiting again.

Do her thoughts turn to returning to Antarctica?

Inevitably, they do, particularly with the 100th anniversary of the first trek to the South Pole coming up next year. She even misses the weather there. “When I come back here, it feels quite grey.

It’s always so bright in Antarctica. You always have to have sunglasses on. Also, Antarctica’s a desert, it’s actually quite dry. So it feels quite damp here.

When the sun was shining it was actually quite hot in the tents.”

Clare realises that if a good job comes along she may not be able to return to the continent straight away. Nevertheless, her experiences are something she will never forget.

“I’ve spoken to so many people who have said ‘I wish I’d done this or that when I was young’,” she says.“It’s something a bit different and when you’ve got no commitments, you’ve got to go for it.”