Many people are turning their minds to how they will celebrate the millennium but one man from the midlands is going to make his celebrations very special.
Athlone-based Pte Liam McGrath plans to spend 65 days at the start of the new year walking to the North Pole, pulling a 200 lb. sledge behind him.
Pte McGrath will be the only Irish member of a five-man British-led expedition to attempt the Polar Challenge 2000, having passed a fitness test to take part.
That was the first hurdle on the way to the North Pole. He was one of a group of 10 who were taken to Dartmoor late last year to see if he was capable of the 1,000-kilometre walk.
"They hooded us to cause disorientation and they dropped us in the middle of the moor and told us to find our way to a destination they had picked out.
"It was a very tough course and over the three days, we only got five hours sleep. I suppose it was my Army training which got me through," he said.
New Ross-born Pte McGrath is also proud because he was one of the oldest men who took the test. At 46 years old, he describes himself as fit.
"I do a lot of hill-walking and I have experience in outdoor endurance and survival pursuits. I have completed the John O' Groats to Land's End cycle marathon in six days. "I have also walked across Scotland, coast to coast, in six days and when I have any spare time, I am off to the Blooms or the Maam mountains or Wicklow," he said.
Pte McGrath, who works in operations of the 4th Western Brigade, has not experienced the cold conditions which will be encountered on the walk.
"I have been in Norway, but we will be expecting to encounter temperatures as low as minus 50 Centigrade on the walk over sea ice, which will throw up pressure ridges.
"We will try and cover the 622 miles in 55 to 65 days and as far as I know, if I make it, I will be the first Irishman to reach the North Pole. "I understand that if we can travel 12 miles each day we will be doing very well because we will have to pull the sledges behind us with our food and other equipment," he said.
To add to the physical danger, the walkers will have to go through what is known as the "Polar Bear Pass".
"We are going to have to take a rifle and a revolver with us to protect us from the bears. They can smell a man at up to two miles and further if they are hungry," he laughed.
"Talking of food, I am going to have to put on an extra stone in weight because the weight loss experienced by other people who have tried this is very weakening.
"I am 14 stone, so I will have to go up to 15 because we must have 5,000 calories per day to survive and those and more will be burned off every day," he said.
Pte McGrath is married to Athlone-born Philomena and has four children, ranging in age from 25 to 13. He has always sought adventure and this will be his greatest one.
He has yet to raise the £35,000 to cover the cost of his trip, but he is seeking sponsorship and has already received some in the form of equipment, like the fleeces from Port West, a Westport-based outdoor clothing manufacturer.
"I have also received a donation from another Irishman who attempted this walk some years ago but had to abandon it," he said.
He will give any surplus money raised to charity.
He can be contacted at 090274880.