Kerry mountaineer Mike Barry has become the first Irishman to reach the South Pole.
The last week of his trek had been "very tough", he admitted last week by satellite phone, with very high winds, and temperatures as low as minus 41 degrees Celsius.
"It was a total white out, we couldn't see in front of us, and so we kept bumping into sastrugis (wind-sculpted snow columns). It was like moving around a room full of furniture in the dark," he told The Irish Times. "Our eyelashes froze, and boogies (nose drips) turned into small icicles in seconds," he said.
The difficult conditions reduced the group's average daily mileage down from 16 miles at best to about 10 miles, Mr Barry said. The former Everest mountaineer, wind energy consultant and father of three from Tralee, is part of an international group - one of several in the South Pole at present.
Leading the group was US/Canadian polar traveller and guide Ms Matty McNair and fellow participants were Hong Kong-based pilot Ray Middleton (43), financial publisher and former Army officer Alex Blyth (42) and commercial lawyer Iain Morpeth (49).
