A four-strong team of Antarctic explorers who became the first Irish expedition to reach the South Pole are due to arrive home tonight.
Pat Falvey (50), Dr Clare O'Leary (35), Shaun Menzies (42), and Jonathon Bradshaw (36) - are expected to fly into Cork airport at around 7pm.
They arrived at the pole just over a week ago after almost 60 days of trekking 1,140km through icy winds and constant sub-zero temperatures.
Writing in his online blog from a hotel room in Chile on the first leg of their homeward journey, team leader Mr Falvey said they were looking forward to arriving on home soil.
"We are delighted to have the second leg of our journey home over, we are now confident on getting home to green Ireland today. It was weird stepping on to unfrozen ground for the first time today in nearly 80 days. Can't wait to be home," he wrote.
Bad weather at the pole forced the group to wait almost a week before flying off Antarctica.
After the weather calmed they were flown to a small airfield on the western fringes of the Antarctic where a large Russian Ilyushin aircraft brought them to Punta Arenas in Chile.
The group set out on their expedition on November 8th and arrived at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station at 8.30pm Irish time on January 8th.
However, because of strict US protocol they could not sleep, wash or eat inside the premises. Instead the team was only able to sit in the canteen for warmth before returning to their tents outside to sleep.