ADVENTURER Tom Avery is to lead a team to the North Pole

in a bid to solve what he calls the greatest mystery of all time.

Tom, from Ticehurst, near Robertsbridge, aims to prove explorer Robert Peary could have reached the North Pole in 38 days almost a century ago.

Tom, 28, who last year walked into the record books as the youngest Briton to complete the perilous journey to the South Pole, will retrace the steps of the 54-year-old American who planted the US flag at the North Pole in April 1909.

Over the years Commander Pearys feat has been questioned and Tom wants to solve the mystery once and for all.

Tom said he was convinced Peary, whom he described as a superhuman, brilliant man, had made the trek in 38 days.

He said: Peary spent 20 years trying to reach the top of the world.

This is one of the last remaining great polar challenges and it is giving us the chance to prove one of the most brilliant explorers of all time did what he said he did.

With favourable weather and ice conditions there is no reason why we cannot match his record.

The Prince of Wales, who is the expeditions patron, said: The North Pole, on foot, is certainly an elusive and difficult prize but I am sure they will rise to this exceptional challenge.

Tom will set out on the first stage of the expedition with teams of Canadian Eskimo dogs and purpose-built wooden sledges in his bid to prove the Peary sceptics wrong and match his record.

The Americans 1909 trek started with 23 men, 133 dogs and 19 sleds but that support team had dwindled to just five companions by the time he reached the Pole.

Controversy raged because a rival US explorer later proved to be a fraud claimed he had reached the Pole first while Pearys navigation techniques were unconventional and his speed remarkable.

Some doubts remained about Pearys claim even after he was backed by the National Geographic Society and US Congress.

The four-strong Barclays Capital Ultimate North expedition team will travel in a similar style to Peary.

With Tom on the expedition will be South African-born Andrew Gerber, a member of the team that set the record for the fastest team to reach the South Pole; US polar explorer Matty McNair; and George Wells, a property developer from Suffolk.

They will set off on February 26 for their final preparations on Baffin Island, northern Canada.

They aim to begin their trek from Resolute Bay, Canada, on March 14 and cross 483 miles of constantly moving ice in temperatures as low as minus 50C (-58F).

Tom, who was brought up in Brazil, France and Sussex, began his outdoor career with a series of rock and ice climbs in Wales and Scotland while still at school.

Ever since reading a Ladybird book at the age of eight about Scotts fateful expedition to the South Pole, he has been fascinated by the attraction of such a physically hostile place.

When not planning expeditions, Tom spends his time speaking to businesses and schools and raising funds for The Princes Trust, for which he is an ambassador.