Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette, Post-Gazette

Cronin Wilkes, 7, of Hampton, will travel along with his parents to Antarctica with internationally recognized explorer Doug Stoup and his ICE AXE Foundation in February as part of the 2006 Antarctic Peninsula Expedition. More about Douglas Stoup    Douglas Stoup, the Antarctic explorer, is president and founder of the nonprofit foundation Ice Axe Foundation, which is based in Truckee, Calif.    Mr. Stoup hopes to get the backing of corporate and other sponsors and give lectures, guided expeditions and establish a scholarship fund to disadvantaged students so they can share in the experiences that are generally limited to the wealthy.    His eventual goal for the foundation is to charter his own vessle to the Antarctic and fill it not only with children, but also their educators. "We need to create climate change ambassadors," he said. -- Gretchen McKay

Like many 7-year-old boys, Cronin Wilkes loves playing outdoors, messing around on the computer and building stuff out of Legos. Oh, and penguins.

Ever since he saw last year's award-winning documentary "March of the Penguins," he's been really, really crazy about these barrel-chested, flightless seabirds.

Early next month, the Hampton first-grader will get a chance to see his beloved birds in the wild, as they waddle across the ice and feed their newly hatched chicks on the snowy shores of Antarctica.

Cronin and his parents, Ted and Susan Wilkes, will join internationally known explorer and filmmaker Doug Stoup on an expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. Only a handful of children his age have ever stepped onto the continent, says Mr. Stoup.

"It's pretty exciting," Cronin says. "All of my friends are celebrating."

That's because Cronin is taking his classmates at Wyland Elementary along. Not in person, of course, as the trip will take nearly three weeks and cost thousands of dollars, but via an Internet linkup. In fact, students across the country will be able to view live video coverage of the trip at www.iceaxekids.com, as well as on the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium's Web site, www.pittsburghzoo.com. As part of the pilot ICE AXE Youth Program, they'll be able to participate in live question-and-answer sessions on the site.

To heighten the learning experience, teachers at Wyland are planning grade-level activities that will build on Cronin's dispatches. For example, first-graders will explore the weather, fourth-graders the region's geology, and fifth graders, forces in motion.

"It's a great opportunity for all of us," says principal Roberta Good. "It's a school-wide adventure."

And, of course, a family adventure for the Wilkeses. "He loves nature, so we thought this would be a really good experience for him," says his mother, who adds that she's coming along to "assume the voice of reason."

Mr. Stoup will discuss details of the expedition today at several assemblies at the school.

"I want to show them that with a little motivation, you can do anything you really want in your life," he says.

Webcasts are nothing new, of course. But this interactive experience with kids will be a first for Mr. Stoup, who grew up in Harrisburg and was the first American man to ski to the South Pole and the first to "ice bike" 250 miles across Antarctica.

Though he's traveled to the region more than a dozen times since 1999, the expeditions always focused on adult pursuits like scientific research and extreme skiing. The more he went, however, the more observations he wanted to share, and what better audience than our nation's youth? So a little over a year ago, he decided to start a kids' program.

The timing couldn't be better as Antarctica -- possibly because of the "March of the Penguins" movie -- has become the new "hot destination" for adventure. It's so hot that a trip to the polar zone was part of this week's Golden Globes award-show goodie bag for celebs.

Perhaps it was serendipity that brought Mr. Stoup and Cronin together. About a year ago, Mrs. Wilkes, who attended West Virginia University with Mr. Stoup but had since lost touch, contacted the 42-year-old explorer via his Web site after hearing about it from a mutual friend. A seasoned traveler herself, Mrs. Wilkes noted she might like to take one of his trips. Sensing an opportunity, Mr. Stoup offered to do a program for Cronin's school.

"And they jumped on it," he recalls with a laugh.

The 14-day expedition begins Feb. 2 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Cronin will make his first live dispatch, and then it will work its way south. On Feb. 8, the travelers will board the MV Explorer, a 100-passenger cruise ship, with a group of tourists who originated in Toronto for their voyage across the Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula and surrounding islands.

The 600-mile, 30-hour ride is the only part of the trip that actually could be dangerous because it has some of the roughest sea weather in the world. But not to worry: Cronin and his parents have packed plenty of the motion sickness medicine Dramamine.

"If we get sick, we get sick," says Ted Wilkes, a petroleum engineer who is also something of an explorer, having traveled to 75 different countries, including the Falkland Islands.

On the plus side, the Drake Passage offers frequent sightings of whales, dolphins and elephant seals.

Once the vessel reaches the peninsula, the group will embark on rubber Zodiac boats and visit beaches and bays that are inaccessible at other times of the year due to ice. Scheduled stops include scientific research stations and a few penguin rookeries.

Mr. Stoup even knows the "secret" location of a colony of emperor penguins, the largest of the 17 species of penguins living in Antarctica and the ones made famous in "March of the Penguins."

"Very few people have ever witnessed these types of penguins because they breed so far inland," he says. "So this will be a unique trip."

While Antarctica is known as the coldest, windiest and least hospitable place on the Earth, with winter temperatures dipping as low as minus-94 degrees, the Wilkeses should enjoy fairly temperate conditions. Their visit comes during the end of Antarctic summer, with temperatures ranging from about 20 to 45 degrees.

Because the group will bunk down on their vessel, the travelers won't need equipment beyond a good pair of sunglasses, strong sun block, warm boots and a down parka. And it won't be all work and no play. The Wilkeses hope to hike up glacier formations so they can ski back down. That includes Cronin, who first hit the slopes at age 3. (In fact, he'll be the youngest to ski there, Mr. Stoup said.)

Mr. Stoup and his team, which will use the trip to shoot a documentary in high definition TV, also will collect weather and environmental data by testing a "PolarBot" rover for Stanford University's NASA/Ames Research Center. Mrs. Wilkes will do a lot of the camera work.

But the main goal, he says, is to "connect" with kids and teach them about the environment. He hopes to one day take an entire group of children, and their teachers, on an expedition.

"We want to share what we learn with as many students as possible.''