PHOTO
A 900km ski trek across the frozen wastelands of the Antarctic is not a typical summer holiday, but for Twizel woman Kylie Wakelin an all-female expedition to the South Pole was the trip of a lifetime.
Ms Wakelin's inspiring story of how she became the first New Zealand woman to ski across the interior of the Antarctic to the South Pole will be the closing act of the NZ Mountain Film Festival at the Lake Wanaka Centre tonight.
She was one of eight women selected for the Kapersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition - an overland trip to the South Pole to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth nations in December.
A pilot, skipper and climber, Ms Wakelin ran a boating business which took visitors across a mountain lake to the Tasman glacier face in the Mt Cook National Park.
She is now based in Wanaka, where she works for Harris Mountain Heliski and Wanaka Scenic Flights, with hopes of securing a pilot's job in summer.
Her NZ Mountain Film Festival appearance is the culminating feature of the five-day event.
Film festival director Mark Sedon said audiences had shown up in good numbers to view the outdoors experiences and adventures highlighted in the 50 films.
To prepare people for some adventures of their own in the mountains around Wanaka, festival organisers would hold a free avalanche safety lecture as a lead-in to the final film session tonight, he said.
Venturing into Wanaka and Queenstown's "amazing" back country required more than a few pointers to keep people safe, he said.
The workshop would focus on key safety tips to help educate people about avalanche forecasting and would be led by mountain guide Peter Bilous, of Hawea Flat, Mr Sedon said.
Ms Wakelin's lecture starts after the free avalanche safety session, and is followed by the final screening of the festival's last three films, he said.
