Explorer’s daughter warms to Pole challenge... in freezer

Amelia Hempleman-Adams – daughter of adventurer David – donned all of her gear to see how she will cope with temperatures as low as minus 60. The 16-year-old looked out of place among the frozen turkeys and fish fingers in the Iceland freezer but this was her best taste yet of the icy wilderness she will encounter on her two-week expedition starting later this month.

The depot in Swindon, Wiltshire, has a minimum temperature of minus 27.

The schoolgirl, who is studying for four AS-levels, will literally be following in her father’s footsteps by joining him on an expedition to the South Pole.

Wiltshire-based Mr Hempleman-Adams, who was the first Briton to reach the South Pole solo and unsupported, is leading the Nimrod expedition.

Amelia said: “When Dad told me ‘I want you to train in a deep freezer’ I thought he was joking.

“However, he was deadly serious and told me he’d trained in the same place for a previous expedition. I am nervous of the freezing temperatures as I have never been anywhere so cold and when I put on my kit with all the layers I feel like a Michelin man.”