Prince Harry, patron of Team UK in the Virgin Money South Pole Allied Challenge 2013 expedition, pulling the pulk which is guiding US team member Ivan Castro, who is blind. Photo: PAPrince Harry has spoken of the Prince of Wales’ concerns about his Walking with the Wounded expedition and voiced his frustrations at the bad weather delaying preparations.
Harry has been snowed in at a base camp in Antarctica with fellow adventurers, waiting for conditions to improve so they can continue acclimatising for their charity trek to the South Pole.
The prince will race with a team of injured British servicemen and women against groups from the US and the Commonwealth in an expedition organised by the charity Walking with the Wounded.
In an interview, the prince, who joined part of a Walking with the Wounded expedition to the North Pole in 2011, said: “My father was a little bit concerned, I obviously tried to keep him calm by saying the North Pole was the dangerous one because we were walking on frozen ocean, whereas this time, yes, there’s crevasses – but hopefully the guys will take us around that.”
My brother, I think he’s just quite jealous I managed to get away from a screaming child
The prince went on to joke about his brother William being envious of him escaping from his nephew Prince George, saying: “My brother, I think he’s just quite jealous I managed to get away from a screaming child.”
He also paid tribute to the wounded soldiers, many of whom have lost limbs, taking part in the trek to the South Pole.
The South Pole Allied Challenge teams had hoped to take part in some skiing training to help acclimatise, but a snow storm and very high winds have left them largely confined to their basic accommodation blocks at their Antarctica base camp.
All 12 injured service personnel taking part in the challenge have overcome life-changing injuries and undertaken challenging training programmes to prepare themselves for the conditions they will face in Antarctica.
Trekking around 15 to 20 kilometres a day, the teams will endure temperatures as low as -45˚C and 50mph winds as they pull their 70-kilogram sleds, known as pulks, towards the southern-most point on the globe.
They hope to reach the geographic South Pole by December 16.
Harry will race with the British team while Hollywood actor Alexander Skarsgard, star of the hit HBO series True Blood, will head the US team and English actor Dominic West, from the popular series The Wire, will race alongside the Commonwealth team.