Climber set to scale Mt Worsley

A Dunedin mountaineer is hoping to be one of the first Kiwis to climb a peak named after one of the bravest New Zealanders.

Lily Green, 20, is just a couple of months away from attempting the first ascent of Mt Worsley, on the subantarctic island of South Georgia.

She is one of four young mountaineers chosen by the Antarctic Heritage Trust to attempt the climb.

The four climbers are part of a larger team of 22 Inspiring Explorers travelling south with the trust in late September, to honour the centenary of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s final Quest expedition.

Miss Green is no stranger to the mountains, working as a climbing instructor after developing a love for the outdoors as a child, while climbing with her father.

She described the opportunity as pretty unreal.

"All the mountains I’ve climbed have already been climbed millions of times before, so it’s very, very special to be climbing a mountain for the first New Zealand ascent. But the fact that the mountain is also named after a New Zealander is pretty awesome," she said.

The mountain was named after Shackleton’s New Zealand captain Frank Worsley, who was part of Shackleton’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to cross the Antarctica continent.

Capt Worsley navigated a lifeboat 1290km across the South Atlantic Ocean from Elephant Island in freezing conditions after their ship Endurance was crushed by ice, in 1916. The group then crossed South Georgia Island on foot to hail a rescue for the remaining crew.

"It’s going to be really cool to sort of walk in [Worsley’s] footsteps.

"It’s not a place many people get to go to, so that’s pretty spectacular. [And] not many people have gone there to climb mountains."

After reaching the top, the group will descend and cross-country ski across the island to rejoin the rest of the explorers.

The attempt is expected to take three days, and will be joined by four other climbers, including two of New Zealand’s top mountaineering guides.

The group is set to become just the second group to ever attempt the climb of 1100m.

"Obviously it’s pretty unknown territory ... the only information we found out about Worsley was [from] the French team who climbed it last.

"They had one sentence about it, and it was ‘exposed, but not technically difficult’.

"So that’s all we’ve got on it — and a couple of old topo maps."

Miss Green hopes the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity might lead to similar expeditions in the future.

By Cole Yeoman