23.5.97

Women rescued from Arctic pack ice return home

FOUR women who were trapped on the cracking pack ice of the Arctic Ocean for five days arrived back in Britain yesterday.

Rosie Clayton, 37, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's great-niece, was one of the team met by relatives at Heathrow airport.

They had formed one section of the first all-female relay expedition attempting to trek 415 nautical miles across the ice to the North Pole, pulling their supplies on sleds. Mrs Clayton, Sarah Jones, 28, Juliette May, 33, and Andre Chadwick, 32, - "Penguin Team Delta", the fourth of five relay teams - became marooned at the end of their two-week-long, 110 nautical mile leg of the expedition. Conditions were deteriorating and they had already eaten their last meal by the time an aircraft reached them and airlifted them to safety.

Mrs Clayton said yesterday: "It is great to be back.

"It was beautiful out there but it was hard and tough and such an expedition is by nature frightening." She said the team were not really worried for their safety.

"At the end of the day, we knew that we could have an air drop of food and fuel and we had been well trained before setting off."

She hoped the final group, who are 58 nautical miles from their goal, would reach the North Pole and make history by being the first all-female team to do so. Mrs May was met at the airport by her husband, Fred, and their two-year-old son, Jack.

Mr May said he knew all along that the team were in good hands and would make it back safely.

The women were all selected last September from 65 hopefuls during a weekend on Dartmoor of rock climbing at night, abseiling and SAS-type exercises.

The final team, made up of Zoe Hudson, Lucy Roberts, Pam Oliver and the expedition leader Caroline Hamilton, hope to plant the Union Flag at the North Pole before the ice packs begin to break up completely at the end of May.