THE teenage daughter of the polar explorer David Hempleman-Adams has completed a 150-mile Arctic trek in less time than it took her father.

Alicia Hempleman-Adams, 15, took 10 days to cross Baffin Island, northeast Canada, tackling thin ice, frozen waterfalls and mountains in temperatures of - 50C (-58F).

Her success makes her the youngest person to complete the crossing on skiis, having already been the youngest person to reach the North Pole, when she flew there aged 8 to meet her father.

She and the other three members of the team were out of contact for four days when their satellite phone froze and her father was about to launch a rescue attempt when they turned up safe and well.

Mr Hempleman-Adams, who made the first balloon flight to the North Pole and has scaled the highest mountain in each continent, said yesterday that he was relieved and proud at his daughter’s success.

“Because I’ve done the route I know all the dangers. I didn’t sleep for days knowing she was out there and thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong,” he said. “What she’s achieved is really fantastic. I’ve been amazed how she’s coped. This teenage girl is only seven and a half stone and being that thin you feel the cold more.”

He also confessed to being “miffed” and having his “explorer’s pride” dented by his daughter crossing the island faster than he managed.

Alicia, who travelled on skis while pulling a 40kg (88lb) sledge, was proud of her performance but glad to have returned to civilisation. “It was really great to get back to society and a hot shower,” she said yesterday. “It’s quite weird out there when there’s nothing around — no buildings, no people, no animals, nothing.”

Her most frightening moment came when she and her team-mates, including her PE teacher Jo Simmons, had to cross a lake covered in a layer of thin ice.

The trek, the inaugural Boost Polar Challenge expedition, is intended to become an annual event to enable young Britons to “develop their pioneering spirit”.

Clare Osborne, Alicia’s head teacher at Stonar School in Wiltshire, allowed her to do the trek. She said: “I’m a great believer in encouraging pupils to set their sights high and this shows that the idea girls don’t take risks is wrong and that they can reach huge heights. We are really proud of Alicia.”

Alicia has not yet decided how far she wishes to follow her father’s career. When asked by her mother, Claire, if she’d enjoyed herself she replied, “It was brilliant.” Mrs Hempleman-Adams, having already endured seeing her husband disappear on expeditions, could only respond: “Oh God.”

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