Life or death race for trapped polar explorer

An explorer trapped near the North Pole faces a life or death race across 65 miles of ice to be rescued.

Seasonal changes mean he could be cut off from the outside world.

Dave Mill - who was attempting to become the first man to walk to the pole solo and unaided - is stranded on an ice floe and miles from the nearest land.

In a little over a week, the full moon's gravitational pull will change the ice landscape making it impossible for a plane to land and rescue him.

Mr Mill, 34, from Perthshire, Scotland, who classes himself along with Sir Ranulph Fiennes as one the last "true" explorers, set off on his epic trek from Canada at the end of March.

The record that Mr Mill was trying to break is one the world's last great exploring milestones.

He failed in an attempt to complete the challenge along the same treacherous route from Canada last year and this time around, various problems including a broken stove mean that the explorer has fallen behind schedule.

This has left him in a zone more prone to ice break-up as the North pole approaches the longest day of the year.

He now needs to travel about 65 miles using a pulk, a sledge which can be used as a small boat to cross water, to find ice solid enough so an aircraft can land and rescue him.

A spokeswoman from his team said: "This is literally a life or death scenario because if the plane doesn't reach him in the next eight days, the full moon's gravitational pull will force the ice rubble into a mountain meaning certain death for him."