My challenge will be an expedition to the South Pole in 2011/2012, with an all British female team, on a record breaking expedition to the coldest place on earth on the centenary of the South Pole first being reached.

I am currently seeking sponsorship for my expedition, for more information on my new challenge please contact me through the VocaLink press office.

South Pole

The Geographic South Pole is located on the continent of Antarctica. It sits atop a featureless, windswept, icy plateau at an altitude of 2,835 meters, about 1,300 km from the nearest sea at McMurdo Sound. The ice is estimated to be about 2,700 meters thick at the Pole, so the land surface under the ice sheet is actually near sea level.

The all British female team, sledges fully laden with supplies, will ski through high Arctic latitudes and increasingly brutal conditions. They will endure hunger and physical and mental exhaustion. If successful the team will reach the pole on the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen, who led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911.

My Everest challenge

My challenge was to embark on the top-up Everest expedition - where I broke the record as the youngest British girl to climb Mount Everest.

A huge part of this challenge has been raising vital funds for my two chosen projects that Global Angels support, you can find out more by checking out the ‘charity’ page.

I left for the Big E on April 3rd and arrived at Everest base camp in mid April, summiting on May 17th.

For more information on my Everest challenge email the VocaLink press office.

Everest

Towering 8,848 metres above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth and is appropriately known as Sagarmatha, or goddess of the sky in Nepal.

The mountain is part of the Himalaya range in Asia, which stretches 2,400 km across six nations and is the highest mountain range in the world.

During a short period of time in May, before the monsoon season, conditions are at their best for climbing. This is when most attempts to scale Everest are made. However, conditions are far from comfortable.

Climbers put themselves at risk from the dangers of extreme altitude, frostbite, hypothermia and snow-blindness, which is the burning of the cornea of the eye, by the sun. For the majority of climbers the use of bottled oxygen is essential to complete their climb.

Climbers reach the peak of the mountain via the Southeast Ridge, first they must complete a week-long trek through lush forests and mountain scenery to reach base camp. At an altitude of 5,380 metres they will remain here for around two weeks for altitude acclimatisation.

The next stage of their climb is to cross the dangerous Khumbu Icefall where they will face giant crevasses and shifting blocks of ice. The ascent takes climbers through four camps across varying terrain and altitudes, ranging from flat glacial valley to snow covered rock.

The climbers remain for a time in each camp along their journey. Weather conditions and health determine how long they stay in each camp, and whether they retreat to a previous camp before continuing.

After camp IV they will reach the “death zone” where conditions allow only two or three days to attempt to reach the summit before having to retreat back down the mountain. From the death zone the summit is a further 1,000 metres and will take between 10 and 12 hours.

At 8,400 metres climbers reach “The Balcony”, a small platform in the mountain. Climbers are then forced into waist deep snow, along a knife edge ridge, up a 12 metre step known as the “Hillary Step”, and up a loose and rocky path to the summit, where there is only a third of the oxygen in the air, compared to the air at sea level, and the temperature is around -30°C on a good day.

On May 29th 1953, as part of a British expedition, Sir Edmund Percival Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal made history by being the first people to reach the summit of Everest.