For me, the greatest obstacles are never on the ice itself. That's the area I excel in. That's where my passion is. I think we all strive to push ourselves, to overcome our struggles. And when we do, we get to know ourselves better.

- Ann Bancroft

I think that women on expeditions often get sucked into giving 150 percent of themselves because they feel they have to prove themselves physically equal to men. We get ourselves into trouble and burn out.

- Ann Bancroft

I love weights, but it's too far to get to the gym. So I make the farm my gym: I split wood and haul tires and do work on the farm, and that's sort of my weight training portion.

- Ann Bancroft

I love that place where you get in running where you're just never out of breath and you just feel like you could go forever. I love that. I love feeling strong.

- Ann Bancroft

I have an opportunity now with some of the projects I've done, i.e. the North Pole and the South Pole, to speak to a larger audience and talk about things that have nothing to do with physical education or special ed.

- Ann Bancroft

The voices of women need to be heard. The volume needs to be turned up.

- Ann Bancroft

Running is my bedrock activity.

- Ann Bancroft

My first expedition was at about the age of eight.

- Ann Bancroft

I'm sort of a strange bird.

- Ann Bancroft

I have a whole, you know, pocket full of dreams I want to achieve. I don't know in which order they're going to fall.

- Ann Bancroft

I give a tremendous amount of weight to the mental aspect of physical activity and what it does for me.

- Ann Bancroft

Growing up in a rural setting in Minnesota, I was raised with the outdoors and a sense of adventure.

- Ann Bancroft

Everyone in my family is a risk taker in his or her own way.

- Ann Bancroft

Film critics said I gave a voice to the fear we all have: that we'll reach a certain point in our lives, look around and realize that all the things we said we'd do and become will never come to be - and that we're ordinary.

- Ann Bancroft

To push behind the dog sled and run in front of the dog sled. That was always an interesting job.

- Ann Bancroft

I think we all strive to push ourselves, to overcome our struggles. And when we do, we get to know ourselves better.

- Ann Bancroft

And then there's also this element of - some people would describe it as spirits or a presence that appears when things are very difficult, physically and emotionally. You know, when you're really putting out. So the third man aura is sort of an appearance. It's the yeti.

- Ann Bancroft

I wanted to be a teacher, but I was a lousy student, one of the slowest readers. It was a tremendous struggle. But I'm lucky I had some teachers who saw something in me.

- Ann Bancroft

This journey is not over. Our education initiatives have so much momentum, and we're committed to sharing even more stories from the Arctic when we return.

- Ann Bancroft

Water links us all as human beings. Everyone needs water, and we all have challenges about it, no matter where we live. Yet even in the U.S., people aren't aware of problems facing water.

- Ann Bancroft