Island at the edge of the world - Stephen Venables

The island of South Georgia, isolated on the edge of the Antarctic Circle, offers a kaleidoscope of images, all explored by Stephen Venables in this picture of one of Britain's furthest outposts.;South Georgia is the final resting place of Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctica's truest hero, whose legendary crossing of the island in 1916 was the main inspiration for Venables' odyssey. First-hand accounts of the defence of South Georgia in the Falklands War come from some of the military still working in Antarctic waters.;Ruled by sea and wind, South Georgia is at the mercy of the elements and for Stephen Venables and his four climbing companions the greatest challenge was weathering the blizzard conditions - they spent 23 days trapped in an ice cave. They travelled round the austerely beautiful south-east coastline, a teeming sanctuary for seals, penguins and albatross, and in the interior they skied pristine glaciers, weaving between crevasses and crossing wind-blasted passes to reach previously untrodden summits. Venables describes with sensitivity a fragile world which has already suffered from man's mistreatment, but whose future lies in our hands.;The author also wrote "Painted Mountains", winner of the Boardman Tasker prize in 1986, "Everest" and "Kangshung Face".