SOUTH POLE, Antarctica—A trio of Canadian adventurers spent more than a month trudging through dizzying whiteouts and knee-deep snow to break the world record for the fastest unsupported journey across Antarctica to the South Pole.
Ray Zahab, 39, of Chelsea, Que., Kevin Valley, 44, of North Vancouver, B.C., and Richard Weber, 49, of Alcove, Que. arrived at the South Pole yesterday after trekking 1,130 km on skis, snowshoes, and foot through the frozen landscape.

It took the men 33 days, 23 hours, and 30 minutes to complete the journey from Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf to the South Pole.
Todd Carmichael, a 44-year-old American adventurer, set the previous record last month by finishing the same trek in 39 days and seven hours.
Before Carmichael, the speed record belonged to British adventurer Hannah McKeand, who made the trip in 2006 in 39 days and nine hours.
Like McKeand and Carmichael, the Canadian men’s expedition was unsupported—meaning their survival depended entirely on items they pulled in heavy sleds.
For the first leg of the trip, they had to fight their way through frozen snowdrifts that resembled ocean waves. The landscape then gave way to knee-deep snow for the second half of the journey.
Throughout it all, the toughest element for the team was fending off the feelings of vertigo brought on by whiteout conditions, Zahab said.
“It was like walking in a cloud,” he said in an interview on a satellite phone from the South Pole. “Literally, you couldn’t tell sky from ground.”
To protect themselves from the biting winds, frigid temperatures, and harsh sunshine, the men had to cover every bit of exposed skin.
Still, even with their faces completely concealed, both Weber and Zahab suffered sunburns from the light reflecting off the snow.