A Devon medical student is planning to become the youngest person yet to walk to the North Pole.

David Burckett-St Laurent, 22, from Chagford, is training on Dartmoor.

But in February next year he will be setting off from Canada with two experienced team-mates for the 480 mile (770km) trek to the pole.

David, a fourth-year student at Barts and Queen Mary's School of Medicine, was inspired by explorers such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

Frozen breath

He said: "It is about excitement, pushing your boundaries and following your dreams.

"I want to see how far I can push myself."

He has been training in Spitsbergen in Norway's arctic north and building up his body weight and strength by exercising for three hours a day.

Ann Daniels entered the record books

He will be pulling an 80kg sledge over moving ice where temperatures drop to minus 53 Celsius - low enough to freeze your breath.

David will be following in the foot-steps of Devon mother-of-triplets Ann Daniels, 35, who reached the North Pole earlier this year.

She and Caroline Hamilton, 37, were the first all-female expedition to reach the North Pole on foot and the first all-female team to walk to both geographic Poles.

Morocco marathon

Her trek was recorded with photographs, but David will be sending video of his trek via satellite to a web site for the first time ever from the Pole.

David, who hopes to work in paediatrics, is aiming to raise �100,000 for the charity Children Nationwide.

And he already has his next adventure in mind.

Her wants to enter the Marathon des Sables (Marathon of Sand) in which competitors run 144 miles (225km) over the Moroccan Sahara while carrying all their gear.