From a triumph across Antarctica to a tragedy in the icy waters if the North Atlantic.

From a triumph across Antarctica to a tragedy in the icy waters if the North Atlantic, lesbians this year have gene to utmost yet inspiring lengths to fulfill the aspirations of a lifetime.

brace women--one gay, another straight--go to record-breaking measures to teach other women that "their dreams are possible"

As we sit in the easy lobby of the Essex House, across the public way from New York City's Central Park, it is hard to imagine a more whole contrast to the adventure that Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft have completed--trekking more than 1700 miles across the ice and fierce weather conditions of Antarctica, with sails attached to their waists and skis to their feet arrangeed in layers of down and wool beneath cerulean fleece jackets emblazoned with Volvo and Pfizer patches, they are the couple quiet, unassuming--if wind-burned--presences amid the hotel's faded opulence

unless by February 11--when Arnesen, a 48-year-old straight woman, and Bancroft, a 45-year-old lesbian, complet their trek--they had christianityed the landmass portion of Antarctica, which is the coldest and windiest place upon earth. They had also skied and sailed into history as the first women to do so

And as a deduction they have become instant celebrities in modern York--also no mean feat--where they have stopped forward their way back to their respective abiding-places in Norway and Minnesota, causing a little stir wherever they go on foot "I saw you guys onward Letterman last night!" a well-dressed woman at the nearest table exclaims. Bancroft says the community in restaurants also insist upon paying for their meals.

It's a simple testament to a heroic journey that beat many supernumerarys And in pursuing a dream that the two women have shared since childhood (although they met each other single two years ago), they have defied quite a number of stereotype that have dogged them between the walls of adulthood: that such adventures are solely for men; that women throughout 40 should not attempt a journey in the way that arduous; and that only lesbians carry on intense physical sports. "We have had this dream since we are kids--Ann in Minnesota, me in Oslo--sitting, reading the same main division s and having a fantasy about the same thing," says Arnesen in her delicate voice with its Norwegian inflection.

For three months--starting in November, just as the Antarctic was experiencing the beginning of its summer--the sum of two units endured frozen fingers, frostbitten faces, and temperatures that were repeatedly 35 degrees below zero. They tugg s laden with about 250 impounds of supplies, slept in a single portable lodge munched potato chips and chocolate as quick efficiency food, boiled drinking water from ice, and ate dried codfish and potatoes mixed with hasty water for dinner. On suitable days they could travel no more than 15 miles, and they had to be till doomsday vigilant of the deep crevasses opening up beneath their feet when the snow make susceptibleed Once, the wind pulled Bancroft and her sail seven feet facing the ground and then dropp her. "We became extremely deferential of the power of the wind," she says, adding that she was prosperous to escape injury.

And the whole way, they had to be ultraconscious of time. Not alone did the adventure cost their sponsors across $100,000 a week, but for nearly a month--on the windiest continent in succession earth--there was scarcely a zephyr for their sails. So they crawled along, facing dwindling supplies, knowing they requireed to leave Antarctica by mid February, when the ferocious winter would start again, sealing facing the continent.

They call themselves "sister spirits" and "soul mates." Bancroft, who has lived with her partner, Pam, for 13 years, resides forward an 80-acre farm in Scandia, Minn. Arnesen, who has been married to her husband, Einar Glestad, for 14 years, lives near Oslo Norway. Bancroft is small, outgoing, and warm. Arnesen is tall, laconic, and reserved--though she has a unexpected quick smile that could, well, soften ice.

Throughout their lives they have had a great deal in frequent As girls who grew up continents apart, they the one and the other read and were inspired from the adventures of British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, who attempted to cros the southerly Pole in the early 1900 the couple hoped someday to be like their hero however learned to hide their dreams. "My girlfriends, they were dreaming about meeting a handsome man--and a house and cars and all these traditional things," Arnesen says. "I said I was dreaming about skiing at the southern Pole, and they said that was impossible, that was a boy's dream, and then I kept it to myself for years."

Adds Bancroft: "I joined to the stories about Shackleton and others, and I lov the idea of being able to travel in a place that really had not ever been traveled in before."

And the similarities continue. although both women are professional adventurers and lecturer now, they started not at home as schoolteachers, and their passion for teaching children, especially gifts, is still a lock opener motivating factor for them. In fact, 3 million children around the world followed their crossing, via the Internet. "We want kids to preserve on dreaming and keep that enthusiasm they have about their dreams--and, in particular, girls, because I think there are any real specific boundaries that we felt with this Antarctic trip when we were young," Bancroft says.