Tracking Shackleton to the pole
One hundred years ago, Sir Ernest Shackleton tried, but narrowly failed, to become the first man to reach the South Pole. Descendants of his team have been retracing and completing his journey.
A century later, the three men, setting out on the route pioneered by Shackleton must trek the equivalent of 35 marathons in 70 days.
And they must complete the 800 nautical miles (equivalent to 920 miles or 1420km) across some of the most extreme terrain and conditions on the planet.
All their fuel, food and equipment is carried in sleds behind them. And for inspiration, they have a copy of Shackleton's diary.
"We read The Heart of the Antarctic every night and pick out bits of his diary that are absolutely spot on to where we have got to on the journey ," says the team leader, Henry Worsley who is a lifelong admirer of Shackleton.
The biggest obstacle on the route are the TransAntarctic Mountains. Remarkably, Shackleton managed to find a route across up the Beardmore Glacier, "a great highway unfolding from north to south." as he describes it.
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A century later, the three men, setting out on the route pioneered by Shackleton must trek the equivalent of 35 marathons in 70 days.
And they must complete the 800 nautical miles (equivalent to 920 miles or 1420km) across some of the most extreme terrain and conditions on the planet.
All their fuel, food and equipment is carried in sleds behind them. And for inspiration, they have a copy of Shackleton's diary.
"We read The Heart of the Antarctic every night and pick out bits of his diary that are absolutely spot on to where we have got to on the journey ," says the team leader, Henry Worsley who is a lifelong admirer of Shackleton.
The biggest obstacle on the route are the TransAntarctic Mountains. Remarkably, Shackleton managed to find a route across up the Beardmore Glacier, "a great highway unfolding from north to south." as he describes it.