Sir Ranulph to brave Antarctic winter in record-breaking trek

The 68-year-old will lead the first team on foot across Antarctica during the southern winter, aiming to cover 2,000 miles (3,219km).

The team of six will brave temperatures as low as minus 90C (minus 130F) during their six-month journey.

Sir Ranulph said his forthcoming expedition is one of the last remaining polar challenges, with a winter crossing of the Arctic having recently being completed by a Norwegian expedition.

“It is the last really big expedition left in these days when everybody’s grandmother goes up Everest at weekends,” Sir Ranulph told reporters in London.

He said his wife and children “weren’t terribly thrilled” with his latest challenge.

“I’ve never done anything else and I need to make a living,” he said.

“You’re much more likely to die statistically on the roads here than you ever will on a polar expedition.”

Sir Ranulph said he thought of his wife, children and a “hot bath” during arduous challenges.

The expedition, to begin in March, is being called the Coldest Journey On Earth, with an estimated budget of £6m.

Much of the journey is being sponsored but organisers say more sponsors are needed.

The group will carry out readings and measurements for scientists and educate UK school children during their expedition via the internet.

The challenge is the latest feat of endurance by the seasoned explorer, who is hoping to raise $10m (£6.17m) for Seeing Is Believing, a charitable initiative to tackle avoidable blindness around the world.

Sir Ranulph was described by Guinness World Records in 1984 as “the world’s greatest living explorer”. He is famous for taking part in the first successful circumnavigation via both the geographical poles, completed with Charles Burton in 1982.

In 2009, aged 65, he became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Mount Everest.