Antarctic Quest 21

What is Antarctic Quest 21?

'This expedition is special for two reasons. The first is that we're going down to Antarctica to commemorate the life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, who also 100 years ago, departed for his last and final expedition down to Antarctica himself. We're also going to do our own science investigations and specifically looking to see if there are plastics in the snow of Antarctica.'

Live from Antartica - 6th January 2022

The Expedition team were involved in a memorial service to remember the achievements of Ernest Shackleton; the video includes the reading of the winning (Year 5 pupil's) poem from the LGfL Poetry competition

LGfL on BBC Newsround - 6th January 2022

The BBC Newsround report on the 6th January 2022, starts with a short excerpt from a year 5 pupils winning poem chosen from the LGfL Polar Poetry competition.

The video clip details the activities, progress and challenges so far for the Quest 21 expedition team members as they battle the elements on Antartica.

How are you preparing for Antarctic Quest 21?

'These cracks in the ice are called crevasses. And they can be very dangerous for mountaineers because you can be walking along, or skiing along, and suddenly you can fall through the fresh snow and fall into these cracks in the ice. So as a mountaineer, we have to actually train and we're working as a team, and we're connected with one another with a mountaineering rope, so that if somebody falls into the crevasse, then the rest of the team can actually help get that person out of the crevasse and basically save their life.'

What are microplastics and why should we care about where they are found?

'So, we're actually going to Antarctica to ski across these mountains, which very few people, if anyone, has ever been able to in that part of the world. We are going there to confirm whether microplastics are present in the snow of this pristine amazing continent'