A 21-year-old Norwegian woman has become the youngest person to ski alone and without assistance to the South Pole, only to find it "a little ugly" due to mankind's presence, she said Tuesday.

Karen Kylleso completed the feat late Monday, 114 years after fellow Norwegian and polar explorer Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole.

Born on May 9, 2003, she covered the 1,130 kilometres (702 miles) in 54 days.

"It's both fantastic and a bit strange," she told Norwegian television channel TV2.

"I of course feel a sense of accomplishment and happiness, but I have to admit it's also a bit bizarre to leave this bubble that I've been in for the past two months," she said.

The young Scandinavian dethroned Pierre Hedan of France, who, according to Guinness World Records, held the record for being the youngest person to reach the South Pole, solo and unassisted, at the age of 26.

He set the record on January 7, 2024.

Kylleso, who is 1.52 metres (nearly five foot) tall and weighs 48 kilogrammes (106 pounds), pulled a sled weighing 100 kilos, or twice her weight, in her bid to reach the pole.

She arrived late on Monday night in temperatures of around -25 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees Fahrenheit).

"I actually found it a little ugly when I got here," she told TV2.

"After 54 days of beautiful nature, you arrive and there are buildings, machines. It just looks really out of place here," she said, referring to the US Amundsen-Scott research base.

Kylleso, who trained for six years for the feat, had to slow down her pace toward the end of her exploit, suffering from what she believes was cold-induced asthma.

Once she arrived at her destination, she said she asked for "pasta bolognese, a salad and vegetables", along with a can of soda and a glass of champagne.

"It's a page written in polar history," her mentor, Norwegian adventurer Lars Ebbesen, told AFP.

Kylleso was already the youngest girl to cross Greenland on skis, completing the feat at the age of 15, in 2018.

"She had barely even finished crossing Greenland before she asked me: 'Do you think I can also go to the South Pole?'," recalled Ebbesen.

Kylleso's father, Hakon Kylleso, credited his daughter's accomplishments to "a mix of good genes".

"Her mother was an accomplished cross-country ski competitor when she was younger and I'm a hunter, fisherman and I love long hikes in nature," he told AFP.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store meanwhile hailed the young adventurer, saying she was "following in the trails of Norwegian polar heroes".

On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the geographic South Pole, part of a tragic race against Britain's Robert Scott who died of exhaustion and cold on the return journey along with his four companions.