ADVENTURER Austen Floyd is about to embark on a mission to make essential repairs to an ice-bound science outpost.

The North Yorkshire businessman will spend a gruelling four months at the South Pole, maintaining the remote Halley research station.

The station - perched precariously on an ice shelf on Antarctica - must be raised six feet every year to stay above snow level.

Operated by the British Antarctic Survey, Halley is home to 65 engineers and scientists in the summer, and 15 in winter.

Austen runs AFFS, a Malton-based crane hire company, and was picked for the job of jacking up the station because of his engineering expertise.

Later this month he will fly to Uruguay, and from there catch an ice-breaker ship to the base. The journey alone takes a month.

Austen, who lives in Danby, said: "I went kayaking in New Zealand once, and that's the furthest south I've ever been, so this is going to be very new.

"I just wanted to do something different. I heard about it on a radio programme four years ago and thought 'That appeals to me'. I applied for it then, but didn't get it. Since then, though, I've done some major work at Flamingo Land, so I gained experience from that.

"I'm really looking forward to it - it's going to be a fantastic experience."

The entire operation will take four months to complete. Most of Austen's business will close down while he is away - but will reopen when he returns in March.

Austen will be paid £400 a week for working 12 hours a day, six days a week at the station.

Halley is Britain's most isolated Antarctic station, and in winter is shrouded in darkness for 105 days. Supplies are landed on the ice shelf and then towed 12km on sledges.

The first Halley station was established in 1957. The current base is the fifth building, after the previous ones were crushed by overlying ice.

Scientists at Halley were the first to spot the hole in the ozone layer in 1985.

Updated: 12:24 Monday, November 14, 2005