Parker Liautaud set a record in December as the fastest unsupported person to ski from the Antarctic Coast to the South Pole, completing the 314-mile journey in 18 days.
At 19, the polar adventurer is also the youngest man to reach the most southern point on Earth by foot, without any assistance.
But the records come second to Liautaud's main goal, which is to advance the discussion on climate change. During the first part of the mission, Liautaud and four others crossed the continent in a custom-built truck collecting ice and snow samples for a global warming study. Liautaud and his teammate, Doug Stoup, then skied unsupported to the South Pole, while the other men followed at a distance.
"The speed record was to engage people about climate policy," Liautaud said in an interview with Business Insider. "It was also a good metaphor for the urgency of climate change."
The mission, called Willis Resilience Expedition, began in late November last year when Parker and a four-man team touched down at a base called Union Glacier near the Antarctic coast on the Ronne Ice Shelf.
The team unloaded all their gear, including a customized truck called the Ice Broker.
The mission was split into two parts. First, the entire team traveled across the continent in the Ice Broker collecting ice and snow samples.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider