going with the floe
Thursday, July 27, 2017 METRO 37
News | Deals | Round-ups
Escape Escape Escape Escape
For… Cornish pasties
Due to open shortly near the southern Cornish port town of St Austell, multimillion-pound venue Cornucopia will house the UK’s first Cornish pasty museum. Visitors can try their hand at making – and later eating – the perfect cornucopiacornwall.com pasty.
For… Posh dogs
Rosewood London hotel now allows pooches to be kitted out in Barbour accessories, enjoy a session with a dog groomer and scoff snacks from Lily’s Kitchen. You, meanwhile, get a night in a suite and spa treatments. Overnight Canine Package from £2,100, rosewoodhotels.com
Good week Bad Week
For... Queue-lovers
Praise be. In the event of cancelled flights, newly launched Travelport Resolve allows airlines to quickly source and distribute alternative flights, hotel and meal vouchers to passengers via a smartphone app, preventing those long queues at the info desk.
For... Peanuts
After three-year-old Marcus Daley suffered severe anaphylaxis aboard a Singapore Airlines flight this month after nearby passengers ate peanuts, a global flight ban on the snack is being considered. Qantas and Air New Zealand have already stopped them being taken on board.
Icebreaker: Strap on the skis and take in the landscape and wildlife of Antarctica
going with the floe It’s now possible to ski past penguin colonies and breaching whales in wonderful Antarctica, says Richard Mellor
W
here to ski this winter? Chamonix, perhaps? Whistler? Or how about the Antarctic Peninsula? Yes, you read that right. Australian firm Aurora Expeditions, a perennial boundary-pusher, is now offering incredible ski touring as an add-on for some of its Antarctica voyages. There will be six to eight days of possible skiing, dependent on weather conditions, and on how long your chosen cruise spends on the White Continent or nearby South Georgia. One thing is certain: the terrain will be gobsmacking. Possible locations include dazzling, icebergspeckled bays in which whales jump out of the water and immense glacial bowls where no one has previously skied. ‘One of my favourites is Georges Point,’ says guide Tarn Pilkington. ‘We land by a penguin colony and ascend Mount Tennent, before an amazing 700m run back down.’ ‘We’ll usually tour twice a day in different .Up close: Meet spots for two to six hours,’ the penguins says Pilkington. ‘The Antarctic climate is changeable but we try to get out whenever possible.’ Mostly covering low-angle terrain, ski touring is challenging yet easy to learn, although considerable skiing experience and fitness is required. Expeditioners will also be taught mountaineering skills like ice-axe use, avalanche procedures and emergency shelter construction. Away from the skiing, Aurora Expeditions’ Antarctic cruises promise small-boat and on-land encounters with elephant seal pups, penguins and other seabirds. The boat, Polar Pioneer, is a nimble ex-research vessel that has been comfortably refurbished. Three cruises offer the skiing add-on. Cheapest is the 12-day Spirit Of Antarctica, which departs from Punta Arenas, Chile, on December 16. From £7,540pp full board, including ski touring and all excursions, auroraexpeditions.com.au
News | Deals | Round-ups
Escape Escape Escape Escape
For… Cornish pasties
Due to open shortly near the southern Cornish port town of St Austell, multimillion-pound venue Cornucopia will house the UK’s first Cornish pasty museum. Visitors can try their hand at making – and later eating – the perfect cornucopiacornwall.com pasty.
For… Posh dogs
Rosewood London hotel now allows pooches to be kitted out in Barbour accessories, enjoy a session with a dog groomer and scoff snacks from Lily’s Kitchen. You, meanwhile, get a night in a suite and spa treatments. Overnight Canine Package from £2,100, rosewoodhotels.com
Good week Bad Week
For... Queue-lovers
Praise be. In the event of cancelled flights, newly launched Travelport Resolve allows airlines to quickly source and distribute alternative flights, hotel and meal vouchers to passengers via a smartphone app, preventing those long queues at the info desk.
For... Peanuts
After three-year-old Marcus Daley suffered severe anaphylaxis aboard a Singapore Airlines flight this month after nearby passengers ate peanuts, a global flight ban on the snack is being considered. Qantas and Air New Zealand have already stopped them being taken on board.
Icebreaker: Strap on the skis and take in the landscape and wildlife of Antarctica
going with the floe It’s now possible to ski past penguin colonies and breaching whales in wonderful Antarctica, says Richard Mellor
W
here to ski this winter? Chamonix, perhaps? Whistler? Or how about the Antarctic Peninsula? Yes, you read that right. Australian firm Aurora Expeditions, a perennial boundary-pusher, is now offering incredible ski touring as an add-on for some of its Antarctica voyages. There will be six to eight days of possible skiing, dependent on weather conditions, and on how long your chosen cruise spends on the White Continent or nearby South Georgia. One thing is certain: the terrain will be gobsmacking. Possible locations include dazzling, icebergspeckled bays in which whales jump out of the water and immense glacial bowls where no one has previously skied. ‘One of my favourites is Georges Point,’ says guide Tarn Pilkington. ‘We land by a penguin colony and ascend Mount Tennent, before an amazing 700m run back down.’ ‘We’ll usually tour twice a day in different .Up close: Meet spots for two to six hours,’ the penguins says Pilkington. ‘The Antarctic climate is changeable but we try to get out whenever possible.’ Mostly covering low-angle terrain, ski touring is challenging yet easy to learn, although considerable skiing experience and fitness is required. Expeditioners will also be taught mountaineering skills like ice-axe use, avalanche procedures and emergency shelter construction. Away from the skiing, Aurora Expeditions’ Antarctic cruises promise small-boat and on-land encounters with elephant seal pups, penguins and other seabirds. The boat, Polar Pioneer, is a nimble ex-research vessel that has been comfortably refurbished. Three cruises offer the skiing add-on. Cheapest is the 12-day Spirit Of Antarctica, which departs from Punta Arenas, Chile, on December 16. From £7,540pp full board, including ski touring and all excursions, auroraexpeditions.com.au
