The co-leader of a team that crossed Antartica by ski and dogsled told several hundred cheering fans welcoming him home that he was thrilled to return to ``your warm hearts.'' Co-leader Will Steger and the other five members of the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition arrived Friday night at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The expedition had left the airport for Antarctica on July 26. It completed its 3,741-mile trek at Mirnyy on the Indian Ocean on March 3. The team also included co-leader Jean-Louis Etienne of France, Geoff Somers of Great Britain, Victor Boyarsky of the Soviet Union, Keizo Funatsu of Japan and Qin Dahe of China. On Friday night, a group of girls sang for the team and people in the crowd carried posters with ``Congratulations'' and ``Welcome Back'' written in French, English, Japanese, Russian and Chinese. Steger, of Ely, Minn., hugged his parents and then greeted 35 to 40 relatives before clasping hands with well-wishers. ``I can't tell you how thrilled we are to come back to Minnesota and your warm hearts,'' Steger said. ``The only thing that really kept us going was the love and prayers of the people back home. We are so thankful just to be alive.'' Steger said that he didn't learn about such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall for several weeks or, in most cases, until he arrived in Australia this month and read a magazine reviewing 1989. The team traveled to the Australian cities of Sidney and Perth, then to Paris and London before flying to Minneapolis. After festivities today on the lawn of the state Capitol, the team is scheduled to leave Sunday for Washington, D.C.
