A former army officer paralyzed from the neck down on the left side is aiming to become the first disabled person to ski alone and unsupported to the South Pole.
Jonny Huntington, who is also a former Great Britain para-athlete, suffered a stroke while serving as an officer in the British Army in 2014.
The brain bleed left the 38-year-old completely paralyzed from the neck down on the left side.
But after 10 years of rehabilitation and training, he is ready to ski 566 miles of Antarctic tundra, an expedition he anticipates will last 40 days.
You will drag all your equipment and food on a sled that will weigh more than 110 kg.
Mr. Huntington’s love of skiing was ignited when He became a member of the Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team (AFPST), during his recovery.
Jonny Huntington is set to ski 566 miles of Antarctic tundra, an expedition he anticipates will last 40 days.
Huntington, from Kingsbridge, south Devon, will begin his journey from the UK on Monday.
He then joined the GB Para Nordic skiing team, where he competed from 2017 to 2020 at the World Cups in Lviv, Ukraine, and Vuokatti, Finland, as well as the inaugural European Paralympic Committee Games in Poland in 2020.
The idea for his South Pole expedition came about after he stopped skiing competitively.
Since then he has taken on a series of challenges to prepare for the venture, including walking the entire 630-mile South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, in one go. He also undertook a 20-day solo expedition to northern Sweden in April.
For his Antarctic challenge, Huntington will fly to Union Glacier, where he will spend a few days on the ice to complete his final preparations.
You will then make a short final flight to the start of the expedition, where you will depart from Fuchs-Messner, at the edge of the Antarctic landmass, and ski alone and unsupported to the South Pole.
Huntington, from Kingsbridge, south Devon, will begin his journey from the UK on Monday.
He has taken on a number of challenges to prepare for the venture, including walking the entire 630-mile South West Coast Path, from Somerset to Dorset, in one go. He also undertook a 20-day solo expedition to northern Sweden in April.
“No one with a disability has done this before, so I find it very exciting,” he said.
‘I’ll do it completely alone, without any help, no resupply, nothing like that.
“You get thrown out of a plane at one end and hopefully end up at the other end, 40 days later.
“Existing in a place fundamentally hostile to life is the ultimate test.”
“I lost a lot of that when I got hurt,” Mr. Huntington said.
‘When I was about two years post-injury and had just been discharged from the military, I experienced some pretty bad mental health.
‘One important aspect came about because I had lost sight of what I felt I needed to work towards.
‘I know I know what I’m doing and I also know, having spoken to other people who have gone on successful expeditions, that I have had the right level of preparation.
“I have done everything I can to make this successful, but I have never been to Antarctica before; it is known that there are quite strict conditions there.”
“There are no disabled scouts, it’s not a job, but I’ll have to figure out how we can make this work.”