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Dubai: Explorer Adrian Hayes finally reached the South Pole on Saturday at 1am local time, after 47 days of travelling by foot.
This makes Hayes, the Dubai-based British adventurer, one of only 14 other explorers to have achieved the challenge, but is significantly the fastest.
In an interview via satellite phone, Hayes told Gulf News he will fly back to Patrick Hill's base camp from where he started the exploration before jetting off to Chile. He expects to arrive back in Dubai by January 2.
Speaking from Amundsen-Scott's base at the South Pole, Hayes said: "It's really difficult to do it any faster due to the sheer amount of physical and mental effort it requires, let alone preparation time and all the other resources. I must say that although it was an arduous trek it was fractionally easier than doing the North Pole."
Hayes said he was grateful to the scientists at the base, named after the first explorers to reach the South Pole Roald Amundsen in 1911 and Robert F. Scott in 1912, for hosting the team for the short while they are there.
Arduous trek
"We were only able to go as fast as the slowest member of the team, but we all worked hard together to ensure that everyone made it in one piece, albeit very weak and completely exhausted," he said.
The new track record earns the former British Army Gurkha officer a unique place in the record books by being the fastest man in history to have pioneered all three pinnacles of extreme adventure on Earth in one year and seven months.
The adventurer climbed Mount Everest in May 2006, walked across the ice to the North Pole in April this year and has now notched up a successful trek to the South Pole.
Hayes considered himself lucky to have done it within 19 months.
He set off from Hercules Inlet on the northern coast of Antarctica on November 12 with a team of five like-minded explorers from Canada, Britain, Norway, Switzerland and Lebanon.
The journey is one of the most physically demanding, placing a tremendous strain on the bodies of the adventurers, who on average burn 8,000 calories day - equivalent to the energy used running a double marathon every day for 60 days.
Hayes is the second Briton to reach the three points on Earth - the top of the World, bottom of the World and roof of the World.
Charity
An additional purpose of Hayes's Three Poles Challenge has been to raise awareness and money for the Children's Hope Foundation and Friends of Cancer Patients charities.
Explorer: Heights of glory
- Hayes' standing is as follows:One of only three people to reach both poles in one year.
- One of 57 people to reach South Pole unassisted.
- One of only 117 people who have walked to the South Pole the entire way in 96 years.
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