Ben Saunders, 27, and Tony Haile, 28, intend to walk across the Antarctic.

1,800 miles. 400lb sledges. Temperatures below -45°C. Icefalls, crevasses and wind-scoured plateaus. Frostbite, altitude sickness and isolation.

Four months in a place that wants them dead.

From Scott’s Hut the team must first cross the Ross Ice Shelf, here the sledge weights will be at their heaviest and the going will be slow. Slowly all signs of life will fade behind them as they penetrate further South. The team must be constantly on guard for crevasses made invisible by treacherous snow bridges. Every 100km they will bury a depot of food and fuel for the return journey and mark it as a GPS waypoint. These tiny caches will be the expedition’s lifeline home.

The team are due to reach the Pole on Christmas Eve, and it is here the race begins. Leaving their sledges behind at the pole and switching to backpacks the team will hope to significantly improve their speed as they ski from depot to depot. They will be under twin deadlines, they must reach the shore before the last ship leaves McMurdo, but they are also in a race against their bodies as the miles slowly take their toll.

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