Low temperatures, crevasses and the constant threat of polar bears are just some of the challenges facing a New Hutton man who is leading a unique expedition, writes Michaela Robinson-Tate.

Paul Walker is heading a four-man team on the Polestar Expedition, in an attempt to make the first successful British unsupported longitudinal crossing of Artic island Spitzbergen.

The 600km journey involves complex navigation through mountainous and glaciated terrain.

The team members say the journey has been attempted by British teams on three occasions in recent years, but they have all ended in failure.

Mr Walker, John Starbuck from Egremont, Dave Johnson from Bury, and Glenn Morris from Kent, will attempt to make the crossing on skis, hauling their supplies on sledges.

The team intends to make a South to North longitudinal traverse of Spitzbergen, which is the largest of the Arctic group of islands known as Svalbard.

They believe the route they are taking is more demanding than those attempted previously, and that if they are successful, it will be a world first.

The quartet also hopes that the high level route they are hoping to follow will allow them to include the ascent of the two highest peaks in Svalbard, Mount Newtontoppen, and Mount General Perrier, which are both 1,717 metres in altitude.

Mr Walker, 33, is an experienced mountaineer who has organised 35 expeditions to Greenland.

He is a director of Tangent Expeditions International, a qualified winter mountain leader, and believes he is one of the world's leading specialists in Arctic mountaineering.

The team members, who flew out to Norway last Thursday, are also trying to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease, and to encourage donations to support research.

Mr Walker said: "The journey has been attempted by British teams on three occasions in recent years, but all attempts have ended in failure.

"We are all highly experienced mountaineers and polar travellers and believe we are the strongest British team ever to attempt this undertaking."

Mr Walker's wife Lucy briefly spoke to her husband on his satellite phone about a week into HIS expedition, which he expects will last at least another five weeks.

She said the team was still making its way down to the most southerly point of the island, so it could begin on the south to north crossing.

" They are only getting about six hours of daylight so they are not able to travel for that long," said Mrs Walker, who said that it was also very cold, and that some of the men's sleeping bags had got damp and were hard to dry out.

But she added he sounded fine, and in good spirits.

"They are all used to that sort of thing," she said.