COVENTRY explorer Mark Wood has reason to be cheerful this evening as he and his two man team successfully reached the North Pole today.
In the company of his two teammates, Paul Vicary and Mark Langridge, the jubilant North Pole 16 trio completed their 120 mile trek over some of the toughest terrain the Antarctic region has to offer.
Despite reaching the most northern point on earth, Mark and his team have admitted to be nursing aching muscles and bones after skiing for eight hours a day over the past 13 days.
In a mission that will soon become impossible due to increasing temperatures as a result of global warming, the trek aims to expose the true extent of climate change in the Arctic Ocean.
Throughout their journey, Mark and his team encountered, what they described, strange, bizarre and warmer than usual conditions as well as facing a barrage of ice blocks, boulder fields and ice rubble.
To Mark’s great concern, the team came across a massive expanse of water just 15 miles from the North Pole with temperatures of around -10 degrees.
Mark Tweddle, the expedition’s main sponsor, who runs Shropshire fruit import and export company Jupiter Marketing, has been in regular contact with the team and confirmed the team’s arrival.
The 38-year-old of Kings Bromley in Lichfield said: “I am delighted to confirm that I have had a call from Mark Wood to say that, after 13 hard days and nights, his British three man team has finally reached the North Pole.
“All are in good health, although very tired.
“The purpose of this expedition was to highlight the importance of the impact that climate change is having on our planet, and no-one could have imaged the complexities the team would encounter in achieving this goal.
The three are all experienced polar explorers and even travelled previously with the late Lt Col Henry Worsley to the South Pole.
“They’ve all reported encountering very unusual conditions for the Arctic, which they have gone so far as to describe as strange and bizarre.”
The team’s next step is to create a documentary that will help educate others on the ever changing part of Earth that only a select few will ever have the chance to explore.
The father-of-two added: “If our planet continues to change at such an alarming rate, expeditions, such as North Pole 16, will soon become a thing of the past – sadly this is highly likely to happen in our lifetime.”
Wood and his team spent time at the Pole before being picked up and flown to Barneo Ice Station and later onto Svalbard to recover.
He will fly back to the UK later this week.
