Great White Way

How to visit Antarctica in style (before it disappears)

July 30, 2007—There are two ways to explore Antarctica in proper fashion—devote your life to environmental sciences, or pony up $32,000 to go with White Desert, a new company based in Britain and offering ten-night visits to the frozen continent. For 30 grand and change, you get kite-skiing, ice-climbing, and three-day journeys led by experts like Canadian Paul Landry, who has skied to the South Pole three times. In a nod perhaps to the recent popularity of movies starring animated ice dwellers and Al Gore, the company also offers penguin visits and eco-lectures. You'll stay in 24-foot-tall domed tents at a solar-powered base camp (24-hour sunlight has its pluses), and the trip is both carbon-neutral and zero-impact (the last bit's required by international law). But though the locale is exotic, the cuisine is relatively familiar: chef-prepared duck liver parfait and barbecued Norwegian salmon (it's fresh, we checked). "You can have as much adrenaline as you like," says founder Patrick Woodhead. "Or just relax and take it easy." But act quick—like the continent itself, tickets are going fast.... Sorry Al, we couldn't resist.

White Desert Antarctic trips, beginning Nov. 29, from about $32,000, www.white-desert.com