From The Province –

A trio of intrepid adventurers, including a North Vancouver father of two, completed a 34-day trek to the South Pole yesterday — a world record for the route.

“The great news is we have arrived in world-record time at the geographic South Pole, in 33 days 23 hours and 30 minutes,” Ray Zahab of Chelsea, Que., was recorded as saying on a weblog dedicated to the trek. The trio includes North Vancouver’s Kevin Vallely, a world-class adventurer, journalist and architect.

Zahab, an ultramarathoner, and Richard Weber, a veteran of more than 45 Arctic expeditions, both hail from the Ottawa area.

They set out Dec. 7 from Hercules Inlet headed for the South Pole — a distance of 1,094 kilometres — each dragging sleds weighing more than 73 kilograms.

They used a satellite telephone to update their weblog.

“We are here, guys, and in the coming 24 to 48 hours you’ll get a lot of photos,” Zahab said yesterday.

“Kevin and Richard . . . just wanted me to pass on the quick message, that we are here and we are getting warmed up in our tent right now and we are going to sleep because we did 24 nautical miles again today to get here.

“So, there you go, rock on, we’ll talk to you later,” enthused Zahab.
Schoolchildren across North America followed their expedition on the trio’s website, www.southpolequest.com.

They battled altitude sickness and cold. Even with 24 hours of daylight, the temperature was estimated at -35 C this week.