I’d managed to get an invitation to photograph the scientists, about 30 of them, and the work they were doing. I’d had to mentally prepare myself; the cold doesn’t bother me, but it was -10°C and I was working with a manual Nikon camera and film – no electronics to go wrong, but no way to check the picture you’ve just taken.

I stayed for about a month. There were other missions nearby – Chilean, Russian – but we concentrated on the task in hand.

I was fascinated by the Antarctic, which is why I returned so often. As a result I set up the Polar Museum Foundation, and many of the artefacts from my expeditions are on display at the Museum of Climate Change in Sha Tin, which stresses the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability.

Dr Rebecca Lee was the first Hongkonger to visit both the North and South Poles and Mount Everest. She teaches at the Chinese University of Hong Kong