Morris might have journeyed to Baffin Island with explorers on dog sleds, the way he goes on about the place. Truth is, he flew there on a DeHavilland Twin Otter airplane as part of Arctic Odysseys’ six-day Baffin Ski Odyssey package (arcticodysseys.com; $6,595). The pilot picks up passengers in Pangnirtung, a village on the Cumberland Peninsula of the island, and takes them to pristine peaks just south of the Arctic Circle. Morris stayed in a dormitory-style lodge with a restaurant that served marinated caribou.

For those who have already sampled most of the globe’s exotic destinations, icy wildernesses in Greenland, the North Pole, Baffin Island and Antarctica may be the planet’s final frontiers. A spate of travel documentaries and films about explorer Ernest Shackleton have fueled interest in these locations, say travel agents, and tourists rank the polar regions very low on the risk scale for terrorism.

Although both poles have become more accessible to travelers in recent years, Antarctica is the most rapidly growing attraction. Only 6,700 tourists visited in the 1993 season, but by 2001 that number had nearly doubled. Because more outdoor activities are offered, more and more young people worldwide are heading for the last continent. “When I started in Antarctica in 1989, there was no diving or hiking,” says Lynne Greig, program manager for Expedition Trips in Seattle (expeditiontrips.com). Now tourists can scuba dive, kayak and commune with wildlife.

You don’t have to be an adrenaline junkie: most polar tour companies cater to the casual sightseer (generally the 50-and-older crowd) but throw in some optional hiking and scuba diving, just in case the mood strikes. Expedition Cruises (expeditioncruises.com) takes passengers to see a research station at King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, swim in the geothermally heated waters at Deception Island, set foot on Antarctica’s Paradise Bay peninsula and watch penguins in their natural habitat–all in five-star luxury. The 13-day trip costs $5,885.

For something a bit more rugged, the 14-day High Arctic: Canada and Greenland trip offered by Geographic Expeditions (www.geoex.com) in San Francisco takes you through areas once explored by Admiral Peary and provides the opportunity to observe polar bears and walruses. Tourists also visit 4,000-year-old archeological sites and some of the northernmost Inuit communities. The $5,950 trip includes transit via icebreaker. For those who crave adventure but lack cash, Expedition Trips offers an 11-day Classic Antarctica cruise starting at $2,695, departing from Ushuaia, Argentina, and sailing to the Antarctic Peninsula via the Drake Passage.

And don’t worry: summer at the poles isn’t really all that cold. The Antarctic Peninsula can reach 10 degrees Celsius in January, and July in southern Baffin Island often hits the 20s. Beats a rainy day in Denmark.