Trekking to the South Pole was once something that only the hardiest of explorers would attempt to pull off. Now everybody seems to be doing it. Even Prince Harry (for a good cause).

This isn’t the first time that Harry has gone off on a risky journey. After all, the third-in-line to the British throne is a trained combat pilot and flew Apache helicopters during his deployments in Afghanistan.  The prince embarked on his latest undertaking for Walking With the Wounded, an expedition to the South Pole that helped raise money for charity. He was accompanied by four injured servicemen and women from the U.K.

To make things more exciting, they raced against a team from the U.S. and another one comprised of hardy souls from Canada and Australia. (The American team included Alexander Skarsgard, the actor who plays Nordic vampire Eric Northman on True Blood. Dominic West from The Wire, another hit HBO series, served as an ambassador for the third team.)

The teams began the 200-mile trek in late November of 2013. Reaching their goal required three weeks of arduous sled-pulling in temperatures that only a penguin could describe as pleasant. The weather was so bad that the race had to be called off and the teams joined together as one due to safety concerns. Ed Parker, the expedition’s director, later told reporters that “Our aim was to show that, despite injury, young men and women from our armed forces can still achieve great things.”

And they succeeded. The teams reached the South Pole at noon, London time, on December 13th. Sgt. Duncan Slater, one of the prince’s teammates, made the journey without the use of his legs—he lost them while serving in Afghanistan in 2009.

Several members of the expedition put on fake beards and stripped down to their skivvies before they headed back home. Are there photos? (Yes, but we can’t show them to you.)  One features a mostly nude Skarsgard sitting on an outdoor toilet.