London, UK - In November, Julian Evans, head of healthcare at Knight Frank, set off on his latest trek, a four week expedition to the South Pole, which now completes his double for the North and South Pole.

In 2008 Evans walked to the North Pole and on Friday 9th December at 1.30am GMT he reached the South Pole.  The double of North and South Pole has only ever been achieved by approximately 150 people. In 1907, the Nimrod Expedition, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, had to turn back 97 nautical miles from the South Pole. Having started from the Thiel Mountains (9,300 ft), the same degree where Shackleton turned back, Julian was part of David Hempleman-Adams’ 10 man team to reach the Pole.

Evans said about completing the 21 day challenge: “We could see the South Pole station from about 13 nautical miles out so it was quite a torturous final day. However, compared to the North Pole, it was great to have a landmark to navigate to albeit it felt like an age to reach. To tread where heroes Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton have walked was a fantastic feeling. The South Pole is the holy grail for polar explorers and Antarctica is a stunning but unforgiving continent.”

The team carried their own GPSs and due to the risk of frostbite, competitors were unable to talk during the day while they are pulling sleighs with their supplies.  Through katabatic winds of up to 80mph, temperatures as low as -35C, crevasse fields, altitude and potential snowstorms the team reached the Pole.

“We man hauled our sledges through temperatures around minus 35c, some brutal winds but generally blue skies. The terrain was mainly uneven sastrugi over glacier plateaus. We had two white outs which proved challenging for navigation. There were also several occasions when areas of the ground, the size of a rugby pitch, dropped several inches below our feet, with a thunder like sound which was rather frightening! We think this was due either to crevasse fields or large pockets of air compressing underground. Another key challenge with the South Pole is that it's at altitude, and due to the atmospheric conditions, felt around 11,000 feet above sea level.

“Unfortunately during our expedition one person was evacuated out by plane as they had acquired severe frostbite to their face and altitude sickness. Our expedition leader, David Hempleman-Adams, made the decision to medivac our colleague back to Union Glacier (a base in Antarctica) where a doctor treated the patient.”

Julian was raising money for LandAid; Matt Hampson Foundation; Myeloma UK; Progressive Supranuclear Palsy; Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and the Rainbow Trust.

Evans is being sponsored by some of the UK’s largest care providers including key sponsor Caring Homes Group,  and Priory Group, Runwood Homes, Four Seasons, Bondcare, Prime Life, Avery but also MedicX, Castleoak, Boodles and Knight Frank.

He has raised circa £40,000 for his chosen charities.

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