Prince Harry sets sights on North Pole trek

Prince Harry revealed yesterday he hopes to join injured servicemen on a North Pole expedition.

A team of amputees who lost limbs in the line of duty will take part in the Walking With The Wounded trek next year.

As details of the record attempt were unveiled at a launch event at the Rifles Club in west London, Prince Harry said he would like to join the team in the Arctic, possibly for five days of the challenge.

He said: "You will be glad to know that if my military commitments allow me I would love to join the team."

Prince Harry, 25, is patron of the expedition campaign, which was set up this year to raise a target of £1 million to rehabilitate injured service personnel back into employment.

Funds will go to charities and organisations providing qualifi-cations, courses and further education for people trying to rebuild their lives.

During the four-week trek next April, the amputees will cover up to 483 kilometres across the frozen Arctic Ocean, taking the Siberian approach to the North Pole.

Accompanied by expert guides including Henry Cookson and Inge Solheim, the former troops will navigate their way through numerous hazards and tough terrain.

Each participant will pull weights in excess of 110 kilos in sleds while enduring temperatures from minus 15C to minus 50C and facing the risk of running into polar bears.

The team hopes to enter the record books by becoming the first amputees to reach the remote destination.

The Prince, who served in Afghanistan for 10 weeks in 2007/08, has been training to become a pilot with the Army Air Corps for more than a year.

He said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to become a patron of this wonderful expedition. It truly is going to be an amazing trip.

"This project exemplifies the tenacity and courage of those who serve our country - it really is that simple.

"They are a huge example to us all. What a wonderful inspiration they are to take on this massive challenge."

Referring to the "debt of gratitude" Britain owed those wounded in action, he appealed for the public to get behind the project and donate money.

Joking that he hoped he would be able to "keep up" with the team if he was able to take part, Harry finished by saying: "Good luck, and let's get an Army flag on the North Pole before my brother lands a helicopter there."

After watching a film of the Arctic landscape and its hazards, the Prince took off his jacket to meet a challenge to pull a sled filled with the equipment needed for the trek and earned a round of applause for his effort.

The project was the brainchild of two Sandhurst-trained ex-soldiers, Edward Parker - whose nephew Harry Parker was injured in Afghanistan last year and lost both his legs - and Simon Daglish.

Mr Daglish said: "These wounded men and women will soon fade from the headlines but their injuries will forever be with them as they try to rebuild their lives.

"Walking With The Wounded will be my little way of saying 'thank you' whilst raising funds so vitally needed to help these brave people back into some sort of normality."

Of the Prince's plan to join the team for a few days, Mr Daglish, 44, of Battersea, south west London, said: "It would be brilliant. I think he would fit in fantastically well. We would love him to come along for five weeks but I suspect his commanding officer will have other ideas."