n January 1999 three men flew out of Antarctica after completing an arduous 84 day trek on foot across one of the longest, most difficult routes to the South Pole. For the renowned adventurers, Peter Hillary, Eric Philips and Jon Muir, it was the culmination of decades of dreaming and years of planning a journey that echoed the courage and endurance of a handful of polar explorers who had matched their strength against some of the world's toughest terrain.