The pair, who work at Foster Care Associates (FCA) in Bristol got involved after Jo contacted the Nottingham-based explorer Fiona Thornewill, who broke the record for walking to the South Pole unaided. Office manager Jo, 36, from St Werburghs told this website: "I have wanted to do a polar trip for some time and was inspired by a book by one of the first two British women to walk to both poles, Katherine Hartley.
 | | Jo is a novice at such expeditions |
"I thought if she could do it, perhaps I could. We started looking at polar websites just when the other woman who walked with Katherine - Fiona - was completing a solo expedition to Antarctica. "We got in touch with her and her husband and went to meet them. They suggested we try something smaller but in similar conditions and invited us to go along to Bear Lake." The trip will be no walk in the park: temperatures during the 10-day, 119-mile trip may reach -50C. And the lake isn't called Great Bear Lake for nothing, although, according to Jo, the Grizzlies should be hibernating. Packs of wolves have also been reported in the area. The expedition planning began last Easter, and the Bristol duo have been training hard since - gym work, swimming and the obligatory tyre-pulling to increase fitness levels and stamina. The expedition kicks off on 19 February.
 | | The expedition is pioneering, says Mark |
"We are very excited now, said Jo. "I have felt a mixture of things over the last year - excited, terrified and being a bit bemused about it all. I have never done anything like this. It has been a bit of a lifestyle change. "My husband Simon has been brilliant and really supportive. He is behind me 100%" Although 37-year-old Mark, from Easton, has done some endurance training and mountaineering, he says this is a fresh challenge for him too. "For me it's about the fact that no one has made a foot crossing over the lake before - it is pioneering," said the FCA's education liaison officer. For Jo, it is about testing herself in anticipation of a polar challenge at a later date. The team will be camping on the ice in two tents, pulling all their supplies in six-foot long light-weight sled-like pulks. Mark and Jo are being sponsored by FCA, with all the money they raise going to the British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF). You can follow the team's progress on Mike and Fiona's polar website, which will be updated daily by Mike's mum via his satellite phone - the only means of contacting the outside world during the trek. We will be speaking again with Mark and Jo when they return. | 
