A British Army climbing team today scaled one of the highest peaks on Antarctica's treacherous Forbidden Plateau.
The nine ski-mountaineers reached the summit of Mount Johnston in what is thought to be only the second time it has been climbed, the first being in 1957.
Mt Johnston lies at the northern end of the notoriously inaccessible Forbidden Plateau, on the freezing continent's peninsula, which the team from the British Army Antarctic Expedition is exploring.
Major James Harris, leading the climbing group, said: "It has been a good day. It's a second ascent but I think we found a new route. We got all nine people up."
The 38-year-old father-of-two, from Winkleigh, Devon, and Halford, near Shipton on Stour, Warwickshire, said the team was now celebrating back at base camp, at 1,800 metres, with a "tipple" from their hip flasks.
Earlier in the expedition, whose patron is the Prince of Wales, Major Harris slipped into a 200ft deep crevasse and spent two hours dangling by rope before being hauled to safety.
The climbing team now has its sights set on Mount Walker, an as-yet unconquered peak further along the Forbidden Plateau.
PA