Antarctica.

It is one of the earth's seven continents.It is the coldest place on earth. The coldest natural temperature ever recorded was -128.6 degrees F at Antarctica's Russian Vostok Station on July 21, 1983. Temperatures reach a minimum of between -112 degrees F and -130 degrees F in the interior in winter and reach a maximum of between 41 degrees F and 59 degrees F near the coast in summer. It is a frozen desert with little precipitation - only eight inches along the coast and far less inland.About 98 percent of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages at least one mile in thickness.Antarctica has no permanent residents.Besides seeing penguins, why would anyone ever want to visit it?Ask Ian Ackroyd-Kelly of Sciota and he'll tell you it's a fascinating place. And also, Antarctica's history is a part of his history.Ian is a geographer and has been fascinated with the continent for many years. His father, W. Howard Ackroyd-Kelly, was a member of Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr.'s first expedition to Antarctica in 1928-29 and Howard's older brother, John Ackroyd-Kelly, joined as a crewman of Byrd's second expedition to the Antarctica in 1935-36."We had some artifacts from the expedition in our house that I grew up with," he says.Ian's grandfather was born in Tasmania and later moved to New Zealand, where Ian's father and uncle were born. His ancestry is that of the Maori, the indigenous population of New Zealand, and Ian speaks the Maori language fluently.Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd, Jr., of the United States Navy, was a polar explorer and a pioneering American aviator.When Byrd was getting his first expedition to Antarctica together in 1928, he needed crewmen for his two ships. Young Howard, looking for adventure, signed on as a stoker on the S.S. Eleanor Boling.The ships brought supplies to Little America - Byrd's base camp on the Ross Ice Shelf - from Dunedin, New Zealand. Scientific expeditions were conducted by snowshoe, dog-sled, snowmobile, and airplane.On Nov. 28, 1929, the famous flight to the South Pole and back was launched. Byrd, along with pilot Bernt Balchen, co-pilot/radioman Harold June, and photographer Ashley McKinley, flew a Ford Trimotor to the South Pole and back in 18 hours, 41 minutes. The expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930.When Byrd went back to America, Howard stayed on as a crewman and decided to make his home in America.There was a presentation at the White House with President Herbert Hoover for Byrd and members of his expedition, Howard included. This expedition was honored with the gold medal of the American Geographical Society. Byrd received a gold medal and all others received a silver medal.Howard's medal reads, "Commemorating the conquest of the Poles by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his associates. Presented by the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America. May 9, 1926-Nov. 29, 1929.""This was one of the artifacts in our home. My dad is in one of the pictures of a group that was part of the article featured in a National Geographic Society magazine," says Ian.One day his father told Ian and his sister and brother that he had a surprise for them. He had made lunch for them. He had saved a packet of powdered soup from the expedition and made it for them."By then it was 25 years old. It was not very good," Ian recalls with a chuckle.Another item that he grew up with is a wooden box that another member of the crew, Larry Pearson, carved out of a larger wooden box that food was kept in during the expedition. He carved it to look like waves on the sides with a small Weddell seal on top with Ian's father's initials. Ian has both items and takes great pride in them.When World War II broke out, Howard, still a British subject, went to Canada and joined the Canadian Air Force as an intelligence officer. He met and married Frances Swan.Ian was born in 1944 in Nyack, New York. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a degree in history. He spent the next five years in the United States Army, honorably discharged as a captain.He then earned his masters, and a doctorate in geography, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While in school, he interned two summers at the CIA.In 1968 he married his wife Elaine, who was a librarian. They have one daughter, Ashley.Ian taught geography at East Stroudsburg State College from 1974-1979. From 1979-80 he worked for the CIA as an analyst and was editor of an atlas of China.Ian returned to ESSC in 1980, which later became East Stroudsburg University, where he remained until his retirement in 2008 as Acting Dean of Arts and Sciences. He was asked to return as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences, retiring a second time in 2010 and his wife retired as curriculum librarian at ESU.They have always loved to travel, having been to several countries over the years. One of their favorite places to visit is New Zealand, home of Ian's father and where his Uncle John lived with his family.He has been to New Zealand four times and will be going to Australia this year for a cousin's wedding. It takes 36 hours of travel. From Los Angeles to Auckland it takes 13-14 hours."We had a sabbatical leave in 1992 and we lived there for a year. I taught at Victoria University. I tried to get to Antarctica then but it didn't happen," he says.On Father's Day in 2006, his wife and daughter gave him a surprise present. Inside was a set of long johns with the news that he was finally going to Antarctica. Elaine had arranged the trip through People to People Ambassador Program.In September of 2006, he began another sabbatical and taught at Massey University, New Zealand, for four months. Elaine flew over in December and they had two weeks together. In mid-December, Ian flew home for one day, gathered up everything he needed for Antarctica. He flew to Miami, on to Buenos Aires, Argentina, then Ushuaia, the tip of Argentina, where he boarded an ice breaker that took him to Antarctica, a trip that took three days.There were 25 people in his group. Some were birders (bird watchers), one guy was going so he could say he had visited all seven continents, and another was Bill Lichtman, author of the book, "Fly Away Home."The trip was very rough and windy. They made stops at South Shetland Islands, Elephant Island and then down the Antarctica peninsula.They boarded Zodiacs, inflatable boats, which transported them to shore. Ian was assigned to Zodiac B, as was Gary Larson, a cartoonist. He drew a cartoon of two killer whales with menus. The one whale was depicted saying, "I'll start with Zodiac B."They visited the Ukrainian, British, Argentina and American stations. At Deception Island, he saw a volcanic crater shaped like the letter C where most of the whaling operations took place from the 1870s. It was last occupied by anyone in 1969."Because everything's so cold, everything there is preserved just as it was when they left it," he says.Ian says it was almost 24 hours of straight daylight with temperatures about -10 to -20 degrees."It was cold. But we were prepared."It meant a lot to him to visit a place that his father was part of a historical experience.Would he go back?"I would. I probably won't, but ..." he shrugs.He still has places to visit, like the Canadian Artic and L'Anse aux Meadows, the northernmost point of Newfoundland, "a place they know for certain that the Vikings occupied. I'd like to see it just for that reason. It's those places that represent early occupation and their adaptation to the land that fascinate me. I look for the unusual."With the heart of an explorer and geographer, Ian is looking forward to charting new adventures.