Antarctica Ice Queens: Vanity trip or study in endurance?

COMMENT | Some people believe that the All Women Expedition to Antarctica (Aweta) by four Malaysians to retrieve a time capsule, which was buried in the ice cap in 2004, is a waste of time and resources. Few will disagree.

Many people think that the Aweta trip by the four Ice Queens is a vanity project.

Do the organisers and the group leader understand the meaning of a time capsule? Time capsules contain objects from the current period in history, for people in the future to dig them up, to study what life was like at an earlier time.

The time capsule that Aweta is attempting to recover was buried only 15 years ago, by the group's mentor, Sharifah Mazlina Syed Abdul Kadir. Today, she leads three other women - a pharmacist, a civil servant and an army corporal to try and locate the time capsule.

Sharifah is described as a polar adventurer and the first Asian woman to explore both the North and South Poles. People will wonder why are there no non-Malay women in her team? Did they fail the mental and physical tests...