Paraplegic adventurer Karen Darke has announced plans for an extraordinary new journey; the first arm-powered journey from the edge of the Antarctic to the geographic South Pole.

Planned for 2011, this audacious expedition will mark 100 years since man first reached this extreme landmark, after a race won by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian team on the 14 December 1911, to be followed just 34 days later by Captain Scott.

Karen and the team, which will also include acclaimed mountaineer Andy Kirkpatrick, have set themselves the challenging target of raising £1 million for charities that support disabled people to lead active and fulfilling lives. These include the Back-Up Trust, Help for Heroes and BRIT (British Inspiration Trust).

Karen explains how the work of these charities changes lives:

“There was a time when getting out of bed seemed beyond possibility, but with inspiration, hard work and good friends, I’ve discovered that almost anything can be achieved. Yet with the best will and mindset in the world, there are still some obstacles when it comes to overcoming the challenges of disability – the cost of wheelchairs and mobility aids, information, advice and opportunities to get out there and do things.
Back-Up helped me rebuild my life after paralysis, gave me the opportunity for fun and adventure, and to see what was still possible.”

Pole of Possibilty from pole of possibility on Vimeo.

The ‘Pole of Possibility’ expedition will begin at the Hercules Inlet, skiing east across the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and climbing 2800 m through mountain passes. The team will be unassisted for the 1120 km (730 miles), facing temperatures of minus 50 degrees, skiing across crevasse fields into icy headwinds, pulling everything they need to survive the windswept expanse of ice in pulks (sleds). On top of this, Karen will have to carefully monitor herself, as her lack of sensation and inability to regulate her body temperature will make her more susceptible to frostbite.

Karen has previous experience of extreme expeditions, completing a a record-breaking 600 kilometre crossing of the Greenland ice cap on a sit-ski in 2006. She hopes that this new expedition will inspire others:

“Disability is a state of mind, not a state of body. With a vision, a passion, hard work, and good friends, we can achieve almost anything. We hope our journey will demonstrate that the ‘impossible’ is a more a figment of our imagination than a reality, and to inspire a sense of possibility in others.”  

You can help Karen and the team meet their fundraising target by ‘buying a metre’ of their journey. To meet their target, each metre needs an 86 pence donation (1,170,000 metres in total).

The team will be raising funds to make this expedition possible through business partnerships, and will not be using any of the money raised for charity to cover the cost of the journey itself. You can find out more about business partnerships here.