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Archive for category: Media Releases

The Frozen Wild

December 12, 2019 - , ,

In March 2019, Marco de Kretser travelled to the Antarctic Peninsula as a member of Antarctic Heritage Trust’s fourth Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition.
This expedition offered the young explorers a chance to push themselves, to connect with experts, and learn about Antarctica’s history, science, wildlife, and environment, as well as the legacy of exploration in Antarctica.

Marco recorded the sounds of Antarctica’s frozen wild—the ice cracking, the birds shrieking—in order to bring those sounds back to the studio and create music inspired by the brutal, desolate, gargantuan landscapes. Marco wanted to create an interplay between the smaller details and larger saws and strings to mimic the nature of the Antarctic environment.

Here is that music:

Marco also used the sounds he recorded in Antarctica to compose a soundscape, which accompanies a photographic exhibition in collaboration with Alexander Hillary, who was also a member of the expedition. Experience that exhibition here.

Historic scales returned to Scott’s Discovery Hut in Antarctica

December 14, 2020 - ,

In November 2020 we were fortunate to repatriate a set of Salter scales to Scott’s Discovery Hut.

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COVID-19 Update

March 20, 2020 - , , ,

Antarctic Heritage Trust is liaising with New Zealand authorities and expedition operator, Quark Expeditions, in an attempt to get our Inspiring Explorers home from South America.

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Introducing the 2020 Inspiring Explorers’ Expeditions™ Team

February 12, 2020 - , , ,

It is with much excitement that we can now announce the team that will be heading to the Antarctic Peninsula next month on our 2020 Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition with Olympic kayaker Mike Dawson!

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In Nansen’s Footsteps

January 10, 2019 - , , ,

A film documenting a gruelling New Zealand Arctic expedition.

Watch ‘In Nansen’s Footsteps’ here.

‘In Nansen’s Footsteps’ follows young Antipodeans as they ski 560 kilometres  to cross the Greenland icecap towing 60 kilogram sleds.

Inspiring ExplorersKeith Parsons

Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition 2018

In Nansen’s Footsteps premiered at the prestigious New York The Explorers Club Polar Film Festival on the evening of 24 January 2019.

The Explorers Club is a 114-year-old global network of explorers. Its famed membership has included Sir Edmund Hillary, Tensing Norgay, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Roald Amundsen.

In Nansen’s Footsteps was made as part of the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s third Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition. The film was shot and directed by Australia’s Keith Parsons. He was one of four young people selected for the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s 2018 Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition, along with well-known Kiwis Brando Yelavich and Hollie Woodhouse and fellow Australian Bridget Kruger. Belmont Productions in Christchurch produced the film.

Keith says having the film premiere at such the prestigious Explorers’ Club is an honour and reward for the enormous challenges he faced in making it.

“This was a difficult project. The adventure was unfolding in real time, there were no second takes, no setups … it was all action. I constantly battled to keep the batteries warm and charged and the gear frost-free. It was an unforgettable experience though and I think the film has an authenticity borne out of those limitations.”

Led by Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson and guided by Ousland Explorers master guide Bengt Rotmo, the expedition was in part supported by Australasian outdoors company Kathmandu. The expedition honoured Fridtjof Nansen. A Norwegian polar explorer and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nansen completed the first crossing of Greenland in 1888.

Nigel Watson says the film captures the highs and lows of the 28-day journey.

“There were times of utter elation with breath-taking sights, but also some very challenging periods including storms and significant snowfall.”

As well as numerous storms, the team pushed on through illness and fatigue … even developing a taste for the pounds of butter they had to eat to maintain their energy levels.

“We had to dig deep (literally at times!) to get through this journey, but it helped deliver on the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s goal of Inspiring Explorers.”

The film includes some incredible drone footage which captures the beauty of an area few viewers are likely to travel to.

“We hope people around the world will see this film, be inspired by Nansen’s story and take the opportunity to get out and explore this amazing world we live in.”

‘Still Life’ Opens at the Korea National Maritime Museum

November 26, 2018 - ,

Antarctic Heritage Trust is delighted to have their ‘Still Life’, which is a unique audio-visual immersive experience that allows you to ‘step inside’ the historic huts of the British Antarctic explorers, open as part of the Korea National Maritime Museum’s new Antarctic exhibition.

Still Life exhibition

Complementing the experience are Jane Ussher’s large scale photographs. The exhibition runs at the museum in Busan until March 2019.

Jane Ussher

Visitors enjoy the Still Life audio-visual immersive experience

More than 100 years ago famous explorers Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton travelled to Antarctica to explore the continent and carry out scientific experiments. They constructed three simple wooden huts as bases that still stand today, packed full of objects the men left behind. This remarkable legacy is cared for by the Antarctic Heritage Trust who are world leaders in cold-climate conservation.

Jane Ussher

Artefacts on display in the Still Life Exhibition at the Korean National Maritime Museum

A century on, renowned New Zealand photographer Jane Ussher photographed the huts in intimate detail, creating an extraordinary record of the explorers’ lives. Her evocative photographs capture the conditions and isolation the men endured exploring Antarctica.

Still Life was originally developed by Antarctic Heritage Trust and Jane Ussher in conjunction with the Christchurch City Council, New Zealand.

The ribbon cutting ceremony marks the opening of ‘Still Life’

Jane Ussher

The Still Life audio-visual immersive experience includes photographer Jane Ussher’s large-scale photographs

Ardi Barnard – Deputy Head of Mission NZ Embassy Seoul, PHotographer Jane Ussher, Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson, and Scott Davis – Spyglass

Jane Ussher

A visitor enjoys the large-scale ‘Still Life’ photographs

Trip of a Lifetime for Two Auckland Students

October 26, 2018 - ,

As part of a new partnership with Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, Antarctic Heritage Trust is taking two Year 13 students kayaking in Antarctica with a kiwi Olympian.

Mele Fetu’u and Lana Kiddie-Vai will be on the Trust’s fourth Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition™ in early 2019.

Mele Fetu'u & Lana Kiddie-VaiAntarctic Heritage Trust

Mele Fetu’u & Lana Kiddie-Vai

The team will travel to the Antarctic Peninsula from South America aboard a One Ocean Expeditions vessel as part of a scheduled expedition.

Olympic kayaker Mike Dawson with Mele Fetu’u and Lana Kiddie-Vai

Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson, who will lead the expedition, says it will be an unforgettable experience.

“Antarctica has the power to change lives. As well as exploring that magnificent place and learning about the legacy we care for, our Inspiring Explorers will go kayaking under the mentoring of Olympian Mike Dawson and the One Ocean Expeditions’ team. We are very excited.”

More young people aged between 18-30 will also be on the expedition… they are currently being selected from hundreds of applications nationwide.

Nigel Watson says the Trust and Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate have a special connection.

“The school cares for Sir Edmund’s former home in New Zealand (which is now a leadership centre on the Collegiate’s grounds) and the Trust cares for his former home in Antarctica. We share a genuine sense of kaitiakitanga for Sir Edmund’s legacy.”

AHT Executive Director Nigel Watson speaking to guests at the partnership event at Hillary House Leadership Centre.

Nigel and Olympic kayaker and youth ambassador Mike Dawson met the students for the first time last week, at an event held at Hillary House, to celebrate the partnership between the Trust and the Collegiate. Mike says it was a special moment meeting Mele and Lana.

“To get to meet these amazing young people and their families inside the study of Sir Ed’s old home, with members of the Hillary family there, felt pretty special.”

SEHC Senior School Principal Dr Peter Uys and AHT Board Chair Mark Stewart

Lana says the reality of going to Antarctica for the first time is already starting to set in for the two Collegiate students.

“I’m really excited but I’m also a bit nervous. It’s going to be so cold! But that is all what makes it an adventure.”

Through sponsorship provided by the Woolf Fisher Trust, the Trust is also bringing a young teacher from the Collegiate on the expedition. The teacher will be announced along with the rest of the expedition participants in early 2019.

This is the Trust’s fourth Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition™ following a crossing of South Georgia in 2015, the summiting of Mt Scott in 2017, and the successful 560km crossing of the Greenland ice cap earlier this year. The Trust is partnering with One Ocean Expeditions for the 2019 expedition.

AHT Board Chair Mark Stewart, Lana Kiddie-Vai, AHT Executive Director Nigel Watson, Mele Fetu’u and Mike Dawson

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