WILTSHIRE adverturer and explorer David Hempleman-Adams and his Team UK of wounded servicemen have reached the North Pole, completing a landmark challenge.

The successful challenge means that that Team UK is the first team of wounded soldiers from the same regiment - the Royal Dragoon Guards - to reach both North and South Poles.

The inaugural event saw four teams, led by world renowned polar explorers, ski the last degree to the North Pole. 

They then returned to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean along with the other Mamont Cup teams.

With conditions in their favour at the start of the journey, the teams made speedy progress to the North Pole with Team UK arriving first followed by Team Baltic, Team Europa and then Team Arctic.

On arrival at the North Pole, the weather conditions changed and the teams had to sit out a huge Arctic storm before being safely flown back to Camp Barneo on Monday. 

Team captains included Mr Hempleman-Adams, from Box, who led Team UK consisting of wounded servicemen, French explorers François Bernard and Christian de Marliave, and an all-female team lead by Denmark’s Bettina Aller.

They were joined by competitors from Sweden, Italy, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Canada and the USA in a truly international celebration of polar exploration.

The expedition was sponsored by the Mamont Foundation, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of continued research and exploration of polar regions.

Through this expedition they hope to encourage people to take a more active interest in the importance of polar regions.

Foundation founder Frederik Paulsen took part as a member of Team Baltic.