Explorer's daughter follows in his footsteps

THE 15-year-old daughter of mountaineer and polar explorer David Hempleman-Adams has watched her father tackle some of the toughest challenges the world has to offer.

Now, she has decided it is time to set her own record - by becoming the youngest person to traverse the Arctic wilderness of Baffin Island, Canada.

The 200-mile polar route, which she will begin tomorrow, will take Alicia Hempleman-Adams across sea-ice, frozen rivers, steep fjords and jagged mountain peaks, in temperatures as low as -30C. She will also meet polar bears, fresh from hibernation, looking for food.

It is a journey that her father, 48, admits that even he found difficult. "It’s no picnic," he said. "She will be pushed to the extremes. It’s 200 miles in low temperatures in hard terrain. She is half my size and a teenager so I think the cold will be a big problem."

But Ms Hempleman-Adams was unfazed by what she was about to undertake:

"I’m most worried about the cold. But I know if I put my mind to it, I’ll do it."

It took her father almost a month to agree to his daughter’s request to take part in the expedition. She had heard that one member of a four-person team going to Baffin Bay had dropped out and put herself forward.

"I felt very apprehensive," said Mr Hempleman-Adams, who has reached both North and South geographical poles, both magnetic poles and scaled the highest mountains in seven continents, including Mount Everest.

"I was very keen that she wanted to do this for herself, rather than because she thought I might have wanted her to do it," he said.