EXMOOR-based explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes this week unveiled plans for another record-breaking attempt, this time by leading the first team on foot across Antarctica during the southern winter.

The six-month expedition will take place next year and is being called the Coldest Journey.

The team will face temperatures as low as -90C and plan to set off at the end of March, just as the southern winter begins.

Sir Ranulph, 68, who is regularly described as the world's greatest living explorer, already has a host of records under his belt, including being the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Mount Everest at the age of 65.

He also made the first unaided crossing of the Antarctic continent and set the world record for unsupported northerly polar travel.

He had previously described an on-foot crossing of Antarctica during the winter as "impossible" but decided to have a go after discovering a Norwegian team was thinking about taking on the challenge.

Sir Ranulph's team will be raising money for the charity Seeing is Believing, an initiative to fight avoidable blindness, as part of the challenge and will also carry out scientific tasks en route.