Jonny Huntington Begins Solo Expedition to the South Pole to Support the Invictus Games Foundation

Jonny Huntington has set off to become the first disabled person to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole.

Jonny suffered a stroke while serving as an officer in the British Army in 2014, which left him completely paralysed from the neck down on his left side.

After a decade of rehabilitation and training he is now undertaking the historic challenge of skiing 566 miles (911km) of Antarctic tundra.

He completed his final preparations at Union Glacier and set off from Fuchs-Messner on the edge of the Antarctic landmass on November 21 at 21:15 (UK time).

“Fewer people have skied solo to the South Pole than have been into space. To date, no-one with a disability has ever attempted a solo, unsupported expedition to the South Pole,” said Jonny.

Jonny will be battling minus 40-degree temperatures and vicious winds, all whilst pulling a 110kg sled and managing his physical limitations.

The expedition is expected to last approximately 40 days.

“I’ll be skiing in 24-hour daylight, which is really nice, but the winds can get up to 50 or 60mph which will be challenging, especially when I’m trying to pitch my tent alone, but I just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other towards the finish line,” Jonny said.

Jonny is now 4 days into the expedition and has covered roughly 47km so far and is expected to cover an average of 16km a day.

Through the expedition, Jonny will be raising money for four charities including the Invictus Games Foundation, Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team, Team Forces and The Adaptive Grand Slam Foundation.

You can donate to Jonny’s chosen charities here.

To find out more about Jonny, you can visit www.jonnyhuntington.com and for live updates from the expedition you can follow on social media at @jonnyhuntington on Instagram and LinkedIn.