EXPLORER TO BE KEYNOTE SPEAKER.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

Crossing polar ice on a virgin route to the South Pole is something like crossing the ocean without seeing the stars.

``There aren't many good maps of the area. And, unlike climbing a mountain, there's no way to mark your progress because all you see is a white expanse for hundreds of miles,'' said Ann Bancroft, the first woman to travel to both poles of the Earth. ``We had a hand-held global positioning system, and we navigated by compass by day. But with so few visual markers, it often feels like a journey of hope and prayer.''

Bancroft, a Minneapolis teacher and avid outdoorswoman, led the first all-women expedition across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1993. She reached the North Pole on a dog-sled expedition seven years earlier.

As keynote speaker at the 19th annual Creative Options workshop for women, to be held today at California Lutheran University, Bancroft will recount her 1993 journey. Often battling strong winds and temperatures of minus-50 degrees, she and three other women skied across 660 miles of snow and ice while pulling 240-pound supply sleds.

``We, all women, have very much in common. People sometimes think it's not relevant. They get hung up on the 50-below-zero thing or the physical challenge of it,'' Bancroft, 42, said. ``But we all have to take risks and face challenges and struggle to in some way be unique while trying to overcome obstacles.''

Bancroft will discuss training, raising money and scheduling mid-Antarctic food drops, as well as her role as expedition leader.

The team, brought together by common interest in Antarctica and outdoor challenges, took a never-traveled route, most of it unmapped.

``We wanted to feel like those early explorers who set out into the unknown. That's why we used sleds, as well,'' Bancroft said. ``It was my way of re-creating what it must have been like in 1912. It's quite a feeling to see a place that no human has ever laid eyes on before and to step down on ice that no human has ever crossed.''

Bancroft's keynote speech will open the daylong conference designed to stimulate, challenge and encourage women, said spokeswoman Kateri Alexander. Proceeds from the conference will fund scholarships for women returning to college after raising families or competing in the work force, Alexander said.

Last year, about 900 women attended the conference and helped raise almost $10,000 in scholarships.

Sponsored by the university's Women's Resource Center and the Thousand Oaks branch of the American Association of University Women, the conference features speakers and seminars on topics ranging from hypnosis to investing in the stock market without a broker.

Sponsors said most of the 90 seminars will still be open to registration beginning at 8 a.m. today.

Bancroft's speech is scheduled for 9 a.m., and the first workshop will begin at 10:10 a.m.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color--Ran in Conejo Edition only) Ann Bancroft

Explored the poles

(2--Color--Ran in Simi Edition only) no caption (Ann Bancroft)