Prince Harry’s Trek To South Pole For Veteran’s Charity Has Been Delayed
Prince Harry and his team, who are trekking in the South Pole for the Walking with the Wounded charity, have been delayed due to inclement weather.
The group began their expedition to the South Pole in late November and with about 70 miles left to reach their destination, the three teams have been forced to stop, according to a rep from Walking With The Wounded.
“I made the decision to suspend the race,” expedition director Ed Parker told Us Weekly. “The reason for this is entirely simple — safety.”
However, Parker says he is confident the trek will be able to continue and Prince Harry and the rest of the participants will reach the South Pole as planned.
“We came here determined to get 12 men and women, all injured in combat, to the South Pole, and so we will. By Friday or Saturday next week, I strongly believe that every member of the expedition will be on the South Pole, celebrating what will have been the most extraordinary shared journey.”
When the trek resumes, it will no longer be called a race, since the objective is to get to their destination.
The announcement came from the organizers of the charity on Saturday. In the recorded message Parker adds that Prince Harry and the rest of the participants were trying to keep up with the increasingly bad weather.
The rep said, the teams had had “a pretty tricky couple of days. The weather remains good but the terrain is very difficult, far harder than we had anticipated.”
Parker added that due to the roadblocks the teams will be driven part of the 70 mile long trek and finish the final leg on foot.
Prince Harry is joined by actors Dominic West and Alexander Skarsgard, who are part of the three teams from Britain, the Commonwealth, and the US, as well as some Canadians.
As part of his training, Prince Harry spent 24-hours in a cold chamber, as reported by The Inquisitr in September.
A member of the British team says there have been a couple of small injuries, but nothing serious, and they will press on, noting that the first days were not easy, “It really tested every single individual mentally and physically.”
Parker expects the group to reach their destination on Friday or Saturday.
Inspirational: great image of #SouthPole2013 #TeamSoldierOn in their final effort skiing the last Km of day 3: pic.twitter.com/GCv5EdXDbG
— WWTW (@supportthewalk) December 4, 2013
Check out Alexander Skarsgard from Team @Noom Coach at the @VirginMoney #SouthPole2013 Start Line: pic.twitter.com/qnkabYeSlL
— WWTW (@supportthewalk) December 1, 2013
The #SouthPole2013 start line taking shape: pic.twitter.com/3AuhDLPwrK
— WWTW (@supportthewalk) December 1, 2013
Prince Harry is fourth in line to the British throne and an Apache helicpoter pilot, who previously joined another trek to the North Pole in 2011.
[Image via Walking with the Wounded/Twitter]
