Andrea Dixon/National Science FoundationPrince Harry's eventful journey to the South Pole has come to an end.
Organizers announced that the 29-year-old royal, along with his Walking With the Wounded teammates, True Blood star Alexander Skarsgård and The Wire's Dominic West departed Novolazarevskaya Station in Antarctica on Wednesday, Dec. 18, for Cape Town, South Africa.
The sooner-than-expected exit, which was scheduled at the end of this week, is due to the onset of a major Antarctic storm. If the group got caught in the dangerous weather, their return for Christmas would have been jeopardized.
The teams are due to arrive back in the U.K. on Dec. 23, just in time for the holidays.
"Now on a very blustery, very snowy day, with a blizzard coming, we are about to fly out to, well we are about to be dragged out on the back of a skidoo to our Aleutian aircraft," Ed Parker, the expedition director said in a statement. "That Aleutian aircraft will be flying us back to Cape Town, where we have a few days of decompression before returning home to our loved ones."
Parker added his appreciation for the continued support saying, "We understand that the charity has been raising lots of money from our efforts, which it is ultimately all about, that and making people aware of how extraordinary our wounded men and women are and how they are able to challenge themselves in the future."
Prince Harry along with his fellow Walking With the Wounded team members, arrived at the South Pole on Friday, Dec. 13, after their 208-mile trek, which began on Dec. 2. "Huge congratulations to all on the @supportthewalk expedition with Prince Harry- they arrived at the South Pole at 13.25 GMT #SouthPole2013," the official Clarence House Twitter posted.
Originally, the American, British and Commonwealth teams were competing against each other, but the expedition director announced that the event would no longer be a race and the teams would instead be going at their own pace due to weather conditions.