Karen Kyllesø, 21, dethrones Frenchman Pierre Hedan who was the youngest person to have reached the South Pole, alone and without assistance, at the age of 26. But the young woman, who traveled 1,130 km in 54 days, said she was a little disappointed.
A 21-year-old Norwegian became on the night of Monday to Tuesday the youngest person to reach the South Pole on skis, alone and without assistance, which she says she found… “a little ugly” due to human presence. One hundred and fourteen years after her compatriot, the polar explorer Roald Amundsen, the first to reach the South Pole, Karen Kyllesø, born May 9, 2003, traveled some 1,130 km in 54 days on the Antarctic continent.
“It’s both fantastic and a little strange”declared the young woman, contacted by the Norwegian channel TV2. “I of course have a feeling of accomplishment and joy but I also have to admit that it’s a little weird to leave the bubble I’ve been in for the last two months”she said.
Karen Kyllesø dethrones Frenchman Pierre Hedan who, according to Guinness World Records, was since January 7, 2024 the youngest person to have reached the South Pole, alone and without assistance, at the age of 26. Very small – 1.52 m and 48 kg – Karen Kyllesø pulled a sled weighing around a hundred kilos, twice her weight, to reach the pole which she reached late Monday evening, in temperatures of – 25°C.
“I actually thought it was a bit ugly when I got here”she told TV2. “After 54 days of beautiful nature, we arrive and there are buildings, machines: it just doesn’t seem like it really belongs here”she said, referring to the American Amundsen-Scott research station and the tents there.
Bolognese pasta
Karen Kyllesø, who had trained for six years, had to slow down in recent days after suffering from what she thinks was cold-induced asthma. Once she reached her destination, she said she asked “Bolognese pasta, salad and vegetables” washed down with a can of soda and a small flute of champagne. “It’s a page of polar history that has been written”commented his mentor, the Norwegian adventurer Lars Ebbesen, to AFP.
In 2018, at age 15, Karen Kyllesø had already become the youngest girl to cross Greenland on skis. “As soon as she arrived, she asked me: 'Do you think I can go to the South Pole too?'”recalls Lars Ebbesen. The adventurer's father, Håkon Kyllesø, credited his daughter's exploits to “a combination of good genes”. “Her mother was an accomplished cross-country ski competitor when she was younger and I am a hunter, fisherman and lover of long hikes in nature”he told AFP.
For his part, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre greeted a young adventurer who “follows the trail of Norwegian polar heroes”. On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen was the first to reach the geographic South Pole after a tragic race with the British Robert Scott, who died of cold and exhaustion, with his teammates, on the way back.
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