What about crevasses? - There are two main crevasse areas I need to cross, one at the start, and another around half way as the ice on the polar plateau flows around the Thiel mountain range. Again, being alone, if I fall down a crevasse, I’ve probably had it, so I need to take great care to avoid them or make sure any snow bridge is strong enough to take me. The real problem is the crevasses you don’t know are there until you are over them.

Will you see any wildlife? - No. Before you ask, polar bears are only found in the north and I will be too far from the unfrozen sea for penguins or anything else.

How cold will it be? - Like everywhere else, temperatures in Antarctica seem to be rapidly changing. Ordinarily I would expect it to be between -10°C and -20°C at the start, and as low as -40°C at the Pole. With wind-chill, these temperatures can feel another 40°C lower. However, the Pole last year had its warmest ever day, at -7°C, so I might be lucky.

What’s the time difference between the UK and Antactica? - Time zones get a bit meaningless the closer you get to the Pole. Technically, the South Pole is in every time zone at once. In practice, I will be using the time zones adopted by the people I need to be in touch with, so Chilean time for the base camp at Patriot Hills and New Zealand time for the South Pole station.