In spite of extreme conditions and poor visibility, Danny Grewcock and Co. are making good progress with their #headnorth2015 trek to the North Pole for charity.
Yesterday, the team made around 10 miles before finding themselves in a natural ice maze - a build-up of ice blocks caused by the constantly shifting surface. With 19 more miles until they reach the finish line at the North Pole, reports state that spirits are high within the team.
Joining Grewcock on this gruelling expedition are fellow World Cup winners Lewis Moody and Josh Lewsey, two Royal Marines, Y.CO co-founders Gary Wright and Charlie Birkett and Yacht Management Director Yves Damette. The team is led by experienced North Pole explorer Alan Chambers MBE.
The team are out to raise £250,000 for the Lewis Moody Foundation and the Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund (RMCTF), and are now over halfway towards their intended fundraising target. With under a week to go until they reach the finish line, there is still time to help them reach their goal by donating at www.head-north.org.
This journey is one of the most extreme tests of physical and psychological endurance that humans can experience. Watch our exclusive BRtv video with Grewcock and Moody to hear more about why they are undertaking their biggest challenge to date.
On their first day, the team narrowly avoided disaster when they ran not into polar bears, but low visibility. The team's plane then had to make an emergency landing en route to the starting point at Ice Camp Barneo. Thankfully, they were safe and well, but the plane's undercarriage suffered damage and a helicopter had to be dispatched to take them the rest of way.
The Lewis Moody Foundation helps families affected by serious illness, offering days out and one-off experiences for children and their families, and funds scientific research through The Brain Tumour Charity, aimed at saving young lives.
The RMCTF provides a better quality of life to serving and retired Royal Marines and their families, and helps the wounded and injured, particularly as the most severely injured begin their transition into civilian life.
The trek itself traverses over 100km of shifting sea ice and is a huge challenge for all involved. After acclimatisation in the relative civilisation of Barneo, the team began their 10-day trek northwards to Latitude 90° North (a total distance of around 100km - or 60 nautical miles). The group are pulling 50kg sledges through temperatures between -30 and -35ºC, facing the constant threat of polar bear attacks and storms.
You can donate to these fantastic causes at justgiving.com/teams/ycoheadnorth or TEXT YCOH15 £amount to 70070.
