Cup of tea to ease trek

‘From my British heritage, a good cup of tea will be my main ‘vice’ during the trip,’ Mr Forbes, a kite surfer of 10 years, said.

In August, the dive project manager will join Queensland adventurer and veterinarian Geoff Wilson (44) on a six-day training trip in New Zealand’s Southern Alps, after Mr Wilson snow kited and skied solo 3428km across Antarctica in a record 56 days in January, raising $200,000 for The McGrath Foundation.

The men will camp, ski and snow kite in South Island backcountry before a planned Antarctic attempt in the 2015-16 summer.

The men’s other adventures have included a 1000km combined mountain biking, kite surf and hiking trip up Queensland’s Cape York, across Torres Strait and the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea in 2012.

The Antarctic trip requires hauling sleds with about 120kg of supplies, assisted by cell kites ranging from 6sqm-13sqm, unsupported for 1130km from the pole to Hercules Inlet near the Antarctic Peninsula south of Chile.

‘I’m doing it mainly because of circumstance, as I’ve always been fascinated by Antarctica, but always thought you couldn’t do it when living in WA surrounded by sand,’ Mr Forbes said.

However, the sand of Leighton and Scarborough beaches provides him with training and kite surfing sites.

The pair plan to fly from South America to the pole and tackle the mapped route that can be ravaged by blizzards and strong winds in summer.

His current training schedule includes kite surfing and stand-up paddle boarding for core body strength, but none for endurance which he said ‘usually just happens anyway just by putting one foot in front of the other’.

‘When I did my last adventure with Geoff a lot of people said ‘sounds like hard work’, but I’d say it’s more of an endurance exercise for my wife waiting at home,’ Mr Forbes said.