Schoolgirl Amelia Hempleman-Adams, who last week became the youngest ever person to ski to the South Pole, returned to her Box home on Tuesday evening.

Amelia, 16, completed the 97-mile journey with her father, the explorer David Hempleman-Adams, which saw the pair spend 17 nights on the ice enduring sub-zero temperatures.

The duo, who flew out to the Antarctic’s Union Glacier camp in the middle of November to acclimatise, started their expedition from The Farthest Point South, where the explorer Ernest Shackleton had to turn back on January 9, 1909. They finished at the South Pole at 1.30am last Friday.

A-Level student Amelia, who was reunited with friends at Prior Park College in Bath on Wednesday morning, said: “In the last few days I’ve gone from 24-hour sunshine in Antarctica to darkness and rain in England. It feels colder here, which is very weird.

“Everyone keeps asking me about my experiences and the highlight was definitely reaching the Pole.”

Amelia, who pulled her own sledge throughout the expedition, said she and her father saluted a photograph of Ernest Shackleton every day to bless their trip.

She said: “The biggest challenges were the freezing cold, the dried food, pulling frozen poo in a sledge, and Dad’s snoring.”

Mr Hempleman-Adams, who was the first Briton to reach the South Pole solo and unsupported in 1996, said: “Amelia did an amazing job and had to deal with nine people significantly older than her.”

Earlier this week the pair were guests on the BBC’s One Show.

Mr Hempleman-Adams said: “There’s been a lot of media interest since we’ve returned and apparently the expedition was covered in around 30 countries. That came as a huge surprise to Amelia and it is probably for the best she didn’t know that while we were out there.”

Mr Hempleman-Adams, who has two other daughters, Alicia, 21, and Camilla, 19, said he was now looking forward to Christmas with his family.