A COURAGEOUS father-daughter duo successfully completed a challenging adventure by walking across a frozen lake in plummeting temperatures reaching -30 degrees.

Sean Chapple, 52, and his daughter Chloe, 17, returned safely from a “harsh and demanding” 150 km trek which saw them cross part of Lake Baikal, in eastern Siberia.

The duo had to pull all of their supplies in sledges during their epic trek.

Mr Chapple, who is a former Harwich and Dovercourt High School student and was part of the Parkeston Scout Group, had previously undertaken record-breaking expeditions to Iceland, the North and South poles.

He said: “I am really proud of Chloe in completing this expedition as the conditions were pretty harsh and demanding, and certainly in terms of the cold it was not too dissimilar to experiences I have had in the Arctic and Antarctica.

“My adventures began as a young lad with 1st and 2nd Parkeston Cubs which instilled in me the desire to explore and I’m always trying to inspire my children to keep active, enjoy the outdoors and stretch themselves. Chloe certainly did with Lake Baikal.”

Chloe, who lives with her family in Somerset, said the expedition was one of the scariest experiences of her life.

She said: “Walking across the lake and being able to look down through the ice into the depths always made me feel nervous.

“You could hear the sound of cracking ice underfoot.

“Sometimes the ice would crack and push against each other, creating walls of broken ice over which we had to drag our sledges.

“When the sun went down the temperature dropped dramatically, on some days the drop was over 15 degrees which made lighting our cooker difficult as fuel had frozen in the pipeline.

“I never felt ill-equipped as my dad has lots of experience in cold weather expeditions.”

The adventurer signed up to the seven-day challenge to raise money for the International Glaucoma Association as Chloe was diagnosed with the condition five years ago.

“I hope my journey inspires others to step outside their comfort zone and try something different,” she said.

To donate to Chloe’s cause visit bit.ly/3cT65Js.