North Wiltshire MP James Gray tabled an Early Day Motion yesterday to congratulate the safe and successful completion of ‘Expedition Ice Maiden’. The Ice Maiden team comprised six British women all serving in the British Army or Army Reserve, who became the first all-female team to ski across Antarctica using muscle power alone.

Mr Gray said “as Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Polar Regions and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces, and as someone who has visited the South Pole, I have taken a keen interest in the Ice Maiden’s journey through one of the world’s most extreme and hostile environments. Their success stands as a testament to the incredible levels of physical endurance, mental determination and teamwork that exists among women serving in the British Army and Army Reserve.

The team should be incredibly proud of what they have accomplished.”

After 60 days, 15 hours and 46 minutes the Ice Maidens skied from the 80th into the 79th degree, thereby completing their phenomenal Antarctic crossing.