WEST Somerset-raised adventurer Hannah McKeand has skied into the record books by making the fastest solo and unsupported trek to the Geographic South Pole. And this week, as the world toasted the 33-year- old former Watchet woman's achievements, her mother Julian Burbury, who still lives in the town, told the Free Press: "I'm just so relieved that she did not fall down a crevasse." Hannah, who moved to Watchet when she was six and was educated at Bucklands School, the now closed St Audries Girls School and Richard Huish College in Taunton, won her place in history last Thursday evening. She completed the 690-mile marathon journey from the edge of Antarctica in 39 days, nine hours and 33 minutes, beating by nearly two days the previous record held by the UK's Fiona Thornewill. Hauling uphill a sledge weighing around 16 stone and surviving on a diet of chocolate, fudge, dried fruit and nuts, salami, pork scratchings and the saviour of explorers everywhere, Kendal mint cake, Hannah lost three stone as she burned up to 8,000 calories a day. She survived bitterly cold temperatures to achieve her goal on her second visit to the South Pole, having been one of five people to reach it on an expedition two years ago. News of her record breaking success reached her mother via the media before the two had the chance to speak. "We still really haven't talked properly," said Julian. But she will be flying out to Tasmania within the next week, where Hannah and her partner David Pryce, a master mariner, are due to set off on another Antarctic expedition - this time sailing to the South Magnetic Pole - in less than a month. It will be the first time mother and daughter have seen each other since August, when Hannah visited Watchet to celebrate Julian's birthday. Hannah's grandparents died before she was born but Julian is convinced that their spirit of adventure lives on in her daughter. "My father was a single-seater fighter pilot in World War One and was awarded the Military Cross," said Julian. "Before Hannah left for the South Pole I sewed his Royal Flying Corps wings onto a piece of felt so that she could take them with her. "Although she never met him, I think she has always felt an attachment to him and to some of the more 'gung ho' members of my family." Hannah, who has a classics degree from Lampeter University in Wales, worked for the Watermill Theatre in Newbury for seven years as both marketing manager and head of touring before becoming a full-time explorer more than two years ago. She has conquered the deserts of north Africa, visited isolated villages in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain range and competed in the 2005 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. But her latest challenge was undertaken to raise money for the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer in memory of her friend Jill Fraser, former artistic and executive director of the Watermill Theatre, who died of breast cancer last year. "I know that Hannah would be so grateful to anyone who is willing to support her aim of raising £10,000 for this charity," said Julian. "She has always hoped that her experiences will inspire people to go after their own dreams and achieve their goals. "I try not to think about the potentially dangerous situations she puts herself in and having a daughter with such a spirit of adventure is not something I would recommend to a parent. "She has always been someone who has strived to conquer her fears. "She used to have vertigo, so she took up ballooning and she was terrified of deep water but she ended up taking part in a round the world yacht race. "I am very proud of what she has done - I am proud to know her." Donations to the expedition charity Breakthrough Breast cancer can be made at http://www.justgiving.com/">www.justgiving.com/ southpole.