AN army medic from Chepstow has led the first ever all-women team to successfully walk across Antarctica via the South Pole.

Major Natalie Taylor and the six-strong Ice Maidens finished their epic 62-day crossing on Saturday (January 20), after braving 60mph snow storms and temperatures of -40C.

The 33-year-old Royal Army Medical Corps doctor, who is based at Beachley barracks with 1st Rifles and also works part-time as a GP in Chepstow, said: "I have spent the last few days trying to imprint this beautiful landscape in my mind.

"We have called it home for two months now, and I will in a strange way miss it a lot.

“The snow sparkles like there is a layer of pearls on the surface and everywhere you look there is beauty and stillness. The photos just don’t do it justice."

Major Taylor is no stranger to adventure and hostile environments, winning the 6633 Arctic Ultra marathon, a 350-mile footrace in the Canadian Arctic, in 2015 and undertaking gruelling postings in Afghanistan.

She and her Ice Maiden teammates – Maj Nics Wetherhill, Maj Sandy Hennis, Capt Zanna Baker, Lt Jenni Stephenson and reservist Lance Sgt Sophie Montagne - skied more than 1,000 miles coast to coast, navigating crevasse fields while pulling sledges weighing up to 80kg in freezing temperatures.

Dragging their supplies on sleds, they had to negotiate 373 miles across uneven ground, each burning a whopping 6,500 calories a day to keep going.

The expedition was dreamed up by Maj Taylor and Maj Wetherill to inspire women of all ages and abilities, and the only conditions for the 250 who applied for places on the team were that they were serving in the Army, regular or reserve, and were female.

The group started on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf on November 20 and climbed up the Transantarctic Mountains, via the Leverett Glacier, to reach the polar plateau.

After a re-supply at the South Pole they started heading towards Hercules Inlet across uneven ground, and spent Christmas Day on the ice before reaching their final re-supply point at the base of the Thiel Mountains.

From there they descended to the Hercules Inlet and reached the finish line around 10am on Saturday.

To train for the epic expedition, Iron Man fan Maj Taylor got up at 6am to drag a heavy tyre for an hour and could also be seen running through the local woods and cycling around the Wye Valley.

UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson congratulated the "heroic" and "trailblazing" team, saying: "They truly demonstrate why the British Armed Forces are the best in the world, and show that with hard work, courage, and determination anything is possible."

The Countess of Wessex, who met the team at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in September, sent tweets congratulating them, saying: "You have achieved your dream and performed an incredible feat of endurance physically and mentally."