Despite the hindrance of some bad weather, Prince Harry and his cohorts have reached the Geographic South Pole.
Arqiva technology helped the team successfully navigate to the ninety degrees south point in the Antarctic to complete the Walking with the Wounded charity’s Virgin Money South Pole Allied Challenge.
The teams reached their goal on Friday December 13th, spending the following day camped out at the site: an important date in Polar history as 102 years ago Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and his crew became the first people to reach the South Pole on 14 December 1911.
Thanks to the communications technology provided by Arqiva, Prince Harry, the expedition patron and member of the British team, was able to communicate the following message upon completion of the expedition:
"We’re here I am about 10 meters away from the Pole. Everyone is sort of scattered now, we’ve been here for about 20 minutes, maybe half an hour. It’s an amazing feeling it really is."
He continued: "It’s not just for the small minority that are here but hopefully in time to come through the documentary, and all the stories back home. It will just prove to everybody that there’s so much that can be made possible when you think that nothing is left.
"But I’m so proud, I’m so chuffed and I’m so privileged to be here with all these guys and girls, and well done to Ed and Dags and everyone who’s organised this. What an amazing accomplishment. I think we’ll be having a few whiskies tonight and then everyone’s looking forward to getting home.
Mission success."
The expedition was made up of three teams of wounded ex-service personnel: Team Glenfiddich (UK) Team Noom (US) and Team Soldier On (Commonwealth). However, due to the adverse weather conditions, the competing teams joined forces on day five of the challenge, abandoning the race and continuing as one team.
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"We always knew that this wasn’t going to be easy, but that is what makes the challenge so exciting. Our aim was to show that despite injury, young men and women from our armed forces can still achieve great things," said expedition director Ed Parker.
"Until now, the three teams have been racing against one another across the Antarctic plateau, but yesterday I took the decision to suspend the race.
"The reason for this is entirely simple – safety, which remains the core principal of our expeditions. While all three teams were progressing well, it was becoming evident that there was a higher degree of stress imposed on the team members, due to unprecedented terrain on the plateau," he said.
CBR will bring you further reports on how the team used Arqiva technology to help them through the expedition once the teams safely return to home soil.
