UK girls just 60 miles from North Pole

Days after a British man was rescued in a blaze of publicity during an abortive attempt to reach the North Pole, two women are poised to enter the history books by achieving his goal.

Caroline Hamilton and Ann Daniels are only 62 miles away from becoming the first British women to walk to the North Pole, and the first women in the world to reach both the Arctic and Antarctic on foot.

While explorer Dave Mill nurses his frostbitten toes and shattered dreams of a solo crossing, the female duo have used ingenious devices to negotiate the same 500-mile Arctic route, enduring temperatures as low as minus 50C.

And their unlikely secret weapons are orange industrial immersion suits.

The hi-tech insulated bodysuit, which covers the head, hands and feet, has enabled them to swim through freezing water across parts of the route where the ice has melted. With temperatures rising in the North Pole area, the suits are proving increasingly invaluable, Miss Hamilton told the Evening Standard.

Speaking by satellite phone, the 35-year-old film financier from Spitalfields said: "The ice has been melting and there is a lot more open water around. We have been using the suits quite a lot as they let us go over open water rather than walking around. They have been absolutely fantastic.

"Dave Mill didn't have one but I'm not surprised, because it is quite a novel use for these suits. I think they have only been used once before in an Arctic trip."

The suits, which can weigh up to 12kg and cost around £700, are normally used by industrial workers operating in dangerous conditions such as on oil rigs, say its Norwegian makers, Helly Hansen.

Product manager Paul Hallinan said: "They are membrane suits coated with Oxford nylon on the outside with a layer of foam insulation on the inside. They are generally used in a more industrial context. But I can see why they would work so well on Arctic expeditions."

Miss Hamilton and Ms Daniels, 37, from Exeter, are due at the North Pole as early as Friday after setting off from the Canadian Arctic on 12 March. Their celebrations, however, are likely to be bittersweet. A third explorer, Pom Oliver, 50, from Sussex - sister of the Lord Mayor of London - was part of their team but was rescued earlier this month due to severe frostbite. Ms Hamilton said: "That was an extremely difficult decision. It was horrendous as we have always been a team of three. We travelled to the South Pole together and it was hard when she left but she had very severe frostbite that had to be treated.

"We're both pretty tired at this stage as it's been a very long journey. The weather at the start was horrendous."

She said temperatures had eased from minus 50C and are now between zero and minus 10C. "We are very optimistic, physically fit and in good spirits," Ms Hamilton added. "It's hard to know what will happen in the next few days but we could get there fairly soon. The problem is the weather is totally unpredictable."

The journey, which has been sponsored by M&G Investments, has been fraught with the problems associated with North Pole crossings. As well as icy temperatures and deafening storms, the women are confronted with moving ice packs that are melting as the temperatures rise.

The pair are keen to reach their destination swiftly - particularly after enduring a daily diet of either rehydrated chicken curry, Hungarian beef pot noodle or cod and potato.

Miss Hamilton said: "When we get to the Pole we are going to throw as big a party as is possible with only two people before we get picked up.

"The hardest thing now will just be to keep on going until we get there."