A Record-Setting Feat at South Pole?

Scott Sears, tennis star Andy Murray's brother-in-law, may be youngest ever to complete feat solo
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 27, 2017 12:32 PM CST
A Record-Setting Feat at South Pole?
In this photo taken on Nov. 25, 2011, a plane flies over the Transantarctic Mountains.   (AP Photo/Kaspersky ONE Trans-antarctic Expedition/Kaspersky Lab)

While many people were unwrapping gifts on Christmas Day, the brother-in-law of tennis star Andy Murray was wrapping up a 700-mile, 38-day journey through brutally cold temps and blistering winds—and, he hopes, setting a world record. Scott Sears, 27, reached the South Pole on Monday, and he says he's the youngest person ever to do so solo, though Guinness has yet to offer its final seal of approval, the BBC notes. "MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SOUTH POLE! Absolutely chuffed to pieces," he wrote on his blog, where he documented his unassisted adventure, which included temperatures of minus 58 degrees and wind gusts of up to 150mph. Sears said he was so tired when he finally took a rest after his trek that he fell asleep "within about 2 minutes of my head hitting the mat."

Sears, whose sister, Kim, is married to the tennis star, describes a grueling expedition with icy, crevasse-marred terrain and an isolation made worse when the "iPod poltergeist" would occasionally strike, causing his music player to stop working. He says he "truly hit a wall" on Christmas Eve, where "everything was just saying 'no more, not one more step.'" But he devoured some dried meat, juice, and chocolate and pushed through, even hanging up his stinky socks as "makeshift stockings" for Santa that night. Sears' message from Andy Murray's mom once he arrived at his destination: "Well done Scott Sears." If Guinness confirms Sears' feat, he'll be three years younger than the previous record-holder, per the Telegraph. (Prince Harry drank champagne out of a prosthetic leg when he arrived at the South Pole.)

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