British-Australian team successfully recreates Shackleton's journey

A team of exhausted but elated explorers have successfully recreated Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic journey - navigating treacherous seas for 800 nautical miles in a lifeboat before completing a three-day climb across mountains, despite a blizzard.

Expedition leader Tim Jarvis and Barry Gray reached the old whaling station at Stromness early on Sunday after a 900-metre climb over the mountainous interior of South Georgia.

"It was epic … and we've arrived here against the odds," said Jarvis, who with Gray completed the climb using the same kind of clothing and gear that Shackleton and his men would have worn in 1916. "The ice climb at the Tridents is a serious thing and Shackleton didn't exaggerate - with ice at 50 degrees, with one wrong foot, we could have careened down a crevasse."

Jarvis, 46, said he and Gray, 38, had more than 20 crevasse falls up to their knees, with the latter plunging into one up to his armpits. "These early explorers were iron men in wooden boats, and … I hope we've been able to emulate some of what they achieved," he said. "There's no doubt in my mind that everyone has a Shackleton double in them, and I hope we've inspired a few people to find theirs."

The crossing follows a 12-day re-enactment of Shackleton's journey in a lifeboat from Elephant Island to South Georgia, along with four other members of the British-Australian team.