British stage and screen actor West will be up against Prince Harry and a team of wounded British servicemen and women, as well as a team from the United States, in the 335km trek in the Walking With The Wounded South Pole Allied Challenge in November and December.
West will be a member of the Commonwealth team which will be made up of wounded servicemen and women from Australia and Canada.
Confirming his intention to join the trek, West said: “I agreed to do a walk to the South Pole with these wounded soldiers in December, so I’m trying to train for that at the moment.”
A spokesman for Walking with the Wounded said The Wire star has already completed “secret training” on glaciers in Iceland.
The spokesman said: “He will be joining the Commonwealth team as a celebrity team mentor.
“He will be taking part in the full trek to the Pole, enduring gruelling conditions of up to minus 50 degrees.
“In fact, he has spent a week in Iceland for secret training on glaciers with his team and only got back on Thursday night. “
The Prince, who took part in the charity’s trek to the North Pole in 2011, is already patron of the Antarctica expedition, and confirmed in April he will be taking part with Team UK – also known as Team Glenfiddich – for the whole race.
He missed out on a bid to conquer Mount Everest with the group in 2012 because of his military commitments and he withdrew early from the successful North Pole expedition to attend his brother’s wedding.
The Prince said of the South Pole race: “The format may be different. The scale is certainly different.
“But the aim remains the same – to enable our wounded to do what they and all other servicemen and women do better than anyone else I know – meet a challenge head-on and overcome it and inspire others to do the same.
“Ladies and gentlemen, these men and women have given their all in the cause of freedom, in our cause.
“That they should once again step into the breach – this time facing down the extreme physical and mental challenges of trekking to the South Pole – just underlines their remarkable qualities.”
Find out more about the expedition at walkingwiththewounded.org.uk/southpole2013
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