The Arctic challenge

Snow is not exactly Elizabeth De Gaetano's most familiar environment. She was 22 when she first saw the White Stuff - on holiday in Italy - and even then she got a cold.

And yet this somewhat negative experience has not deterred her from signing up for a seven-day Arctic Dog Sledging Challenge in Norway next February.

Now 25, she will be one of up to 13 who will cross 250 kilometres with their own sled pulled by four or six huskies. They will travel for eight hours a day and will also have to look after the dogs, feeding, watering and cleaning up in the morning, as well as cooking and clearing up and fetching water.

The challenge will raise money for the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute. The institute was founded in 1920 as a memorial to Robert Scott and his companions, who died returning from the South Pole in 1912. A Friends' association was set up in 1946 for individuals wanting to help the institute.

To take part, she will need to raise at least £3,250, of which £2,250 will cover the expedition cost with £1,000 going to the Friends.

Ms De Gaetano, daughter of Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano, studied at St Joseph in Sliema and at St Aloysius College, before reading archaeology at the University of Malta.

She has been living in the UK for the past three years, two of them working for a heritage consultancy.

She joined the Friends earlier this year and signed up for the Challenge shortly after.

"I once said in conversation that I enjoyed looking at maps and globes, particularly of Antarctica, whereupon a close, well-travelled friend of mine who worked on many projects abroad mentioned the SPRI and informed me that the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute held some very interesting talks, not just about the polar regions but also about the people who explored and travelled these far flung areas of the world," she recalled.

"It didn't take me long to sign up. After attending a few of their events, I volunteered to take the minutes at the Friends committee meetings, allowing me to get actively involved with the organisation.

"One recent activity was an invitation by the Commanding Officer of HMS Endurance (the Royal Navy's Antarctic survey vessel) which was in drydock at Portsmouth and is about to sail off for a nine-month tour of duty in the Antarctic." The polar regions fascinate her but she is especially impressed by those who explore, monitor and report on these regions, "primarily because both poles are particularly sensitive to changes in the climate, reflecting extensively back on the global state of the environment," she explained.

This still does not fully explain why she would want to spend a week in such hostile terrain.

"Perhaps it will not help in terms of my archaeology but it will definitely help develop a variety of life skills which I hope will always be applicable to my career. I have needed to become more organised in the way I look for and collect sponsorship as well as increasingly disciplined and motivated in order to improve my physical strength, particularly as I have to train for this event by myself!"

She has already managed to raise some money (including sponsorship from Allied Newspapers) and has spent £650 from her savings. She is now hoping for a few cheques of £100 or £200.

In the meantime, the team is gradually forging bonds via e-mail, although they have not yet met in person. So far, so good.

"I am looking forward to getting stuck in with the team (not just the sledgers but the dogs too) and our daily activities - not all our stopping stations will have the everyday commodities we are used to!

"I am mostly dreading a disobedient group of huskies and falling off my sledge. You are meant to hold onto your sledge at all costs even if it means being dragged along the trail, especially if there are reindeer nearby!"

Those interesting in sponsoring Ms De Gaetano can contact her on betta@oxfordarch.co.uk.

The Arctic covers one-sixth of the earth's land mass, more than 30 million square kilometres, and 24 time zones.

It has a population of four million, including over 30 indigenous peoples and dozens of languages.

Conditions in the Arctic Circle are changing so rapidly that many fjords in the Svalbard are free of ice throughout the year, while others are covered by little more than slush.

www.spri.cam.ac.uk