A SCOTTISH adventurer has become the first British man to ski solo to the South Pole from the edge of the Antarctic continent.
Newall Hunter completed the gruelling trip on Sunday after spending 41 days pulling two heavy sleds filled with supplies across the polar ice cap.
Facing snowstorms strong enough to block out everything beyond the end of his skis, the Scot survived a narrow scrape with danger when snow collapsed beneath his skis to reveal a gaping crevasse.
He broke the news of his successful arrival at the permanent camp at the pole in a blog post on his website, saying: "I have made it to the South Pole. I arrived about 3.30am (local time) so everyone from Union Glacier [camp] was asleep, which meant I had the Pole all to myself.
"A can of coke and some cookies never tasted so good. Maybe it was having a chair to sit on (I have been on the floor of my tent for past 40 days) or the hot stove to sit in front of."
Before leaving the UK he said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of past adventurers by making the trip.
He said: "I am working on the 'explorers' grand slam' of climbing the Seven Summits the highest mountains on each of the continents and skiing to the geographic North and South Poles. Conquering Mount Vinson will leave me just two more to climb."
The 52-year-old will return to Antarctica in October with a team seeking to retrace the route planned by Ernest Shackleton in his ultimately failed attempt to cross the continent in 1915.
Mr Newall added: "What our team wants to do for the Shackleton Centenary is ski and kite-ski the complete coast to coast route that Shackleton had planned to be the first crossing of the Antarctic continent. We believe that this route has still not been completed."
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