Hermann Maier to walk to South Pole
Wednesday September 8, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Hermann Maier is one of the most successful racers of his generation and certainly one of the most famous.  He has two Olympic gold medals and four World Cup titles.

In his long and distinguished career he won 54 World Cup races.

He is second on the list of all time winners after the legendary, Ingemar Stenmark.

Maier, known as The Herminator, overcame an horiffic high-speed motorcycle crash in 2001 where it was feared he might have part of his leg amputated.

He came back to race, and win, again.

Now he is off to try to reach The South Pole. He is training hard and plans to set off in early December.

"It's a pretty exciting and unique adventure; it's also a great opportunity for me to do something really special and unforgettable," said Maier, to the Reuters News Agency.

"It's something amazing, it may never happen again. How many people nowadays have a chance to reach the South Pole by ski?"

See here for the PlanetSKI report on Maier's decision to retire and a look back at his amazing career written by PlanetSKI with some tributes from our readers and a few famous names too.

The walk to The South Pole is part of an event to mark the centenary of the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, becoming the first man to reach the South Pole.

An Austrian team will compete against a German team to see who will get there first.

It is being organised by the two countries's state TV channels, ORF and ZDF.

The teams will walk on skis for around 16 hours per day pulling a sled laden with their food and equipment.

The journey is 400km long often in extreme weather. It is expected to take around 2 weeks to complete.

For more information see this story on Reuters.

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