A British schoolboy has become the youngest person to trek to the South Pole.
Lewis Clarke, 16, arrived at 6pm yesterday after completing the gruelling 1,000km journey from the Antarctic coast.
After an early start and having faced temperatures of minus 50 degrees - as well as windchill - it took a few hours longer than expected to reach his goal.
Lewis celebrated the achievement by eating his first real meal in nearly seven weeks - spaghetti bolognaise with fresh parmesan - and he spent last night sitting in the warmth of a tent.
On his arrival, he said: “I’m really happy but mostly relieved that for the first time in 48 days I don’t have to get up tomorrow and drag my sled for nine hours in the snow and icy wind.
“Today was really hard, the closer I got to the Pole the slower I went, my legs had had enough. But now I’m here and I’ve had some spaghetti bolognaise and I am sitting in a heated tent.”
The Briton, accompanied by guide Carl Alvey, has skied an average of eight hours and about 30km a day.
Lewis, from Bristol, set off on December 2nd and spent the past 48 days travelling on skis in subzero temperatures while battling winds of up to 100km/h.
He is two years younger than the current world record holder, Canadian Sarah McNair-Landry, who completed the trek in 2005.
Having completed the final 16km of the trek, Lewis and Mr Alvey were greeted by mentor and polar explorer Hannah McKeand who just so happened to be manning Adventure Network International's polar camp.
Lewis stayed overnight at the Pole and has been offered a tour of the Amundsen Scott Polar Research base today.
He will fly back to Union Glacier base camp tomorrow and will be back in the UK on January 24th.
The young explorer said earlier this week: “My body has had enough. I am forcing it to go on.”
Lewis, who is raising money for youth charity The Prince’s Trust, pulled his own supplies, although he received three food drops.
PA