Paul Hubner, president of Baffin Inc., a manufacturer of winter boots, is trekking to the coldest place on earth.

This week, Mr. Hubner will set out to conquer the South Pole with a group called Adventure Network International.

Mr. Hubner's journey will begin at Punta Arenas, near the southern end of Chile. There he will board an Ilyushin 76 and fly to Patriot Hills, Antarctica, located at approximately 79 degrees south. Mr. Hubner will take a ski-equipped flight to 89 degrees. From there, he'll strap skis onto his Baffin boots and drag a sled loaded with 150 lbs of gear, including a tent, fuel and food, all the way to the geographic South Pole.

David Hamilton will lead Mr. Hubner, along with the rest of the group.

"David's summited Everest twice, he's done polar exploration before, so it will be him and I along with two other guys I've never met - one's from South Africa and one's from Spain - so that's going to be kind of cool, meeting them; I'm really looking forward to that," said Mr. Hubner.

Mr. Hubner says what he's not looking forward to is leaving his family.

"I'm not going to be with my family over the holidays, but they're supportive," he said.

There are also certain dangers with such a trip, adds Mr. Hubner.

"If something were to happen, there's no quick help. If you break a leg, it's not like you can just get to a hospital in an hour. When you're on the ice, there's no medical facilities, there's nothing, so you have to be kind of cautious about that and the cold," he said. "You're apprehensive about the challenge and the challenge is, it's a wickedly hostile environment, but then if it wasn't, why do it?"

Mr. Hubner is so up to the challenge that when he gets back from the South Pole, he will train for an assault on the North Pole in April, after a successful 10-day expedition there last year. This time, he will be accompanied by his 17-year-old son Brent, who will become the youngest Canadian to ski to the North Pole.

"Brent's looking forward to it; he's done a lot of outdoor activity and he's in great shape," said Mr. Hubner.

"When kids are younger, you have a real strong parenting relationship with them, but when they kind of break into adulthood, they start to have their own lives and from a personal standpoint - because we're going to be together for more than a week in a hostile environment - we're going to get a chance to really get to know each other, so I'm really looking forwarding to spending that time with him."

The purpose of both trips is to raise money for northern youth charities through Athletes Without Borders and to support Polar Bears International, which supports research projects that benefit the world's polar bears. Mr. Hubner and Brent also hope to raise awareness of the effects global warming is having on wildlife and Arctic communities in northern Canada.

"In our Arctic in Canada, unfortunately there's a lot of need. There are a lot of kids who don't have sports equipment, they don't have youth programs; there's poverty in Canada that we tend not to think of on a day-to-day basis and there's a lot of good work and support that they need," said Mr. Hubner.

Another purpose of the trips is to test the performance of Baffin boots in extreme conditions.

"It's kind of cool being a company from Hamilton that does that, because they're aren't too many that the owner of the company will actually go out and test the product and actually develop the product, so it's certainly testing and putting that to the limit," he said.

Mr. Hubner says he has the best job in the world.

"The company's kind of a reflection of myself... because I love the outdoors and I love that side of life, the company goes that way, so when I'm developing product, I love doing it, so I'm lucky, very lucky," he said.

As to why he goes to such extremes for charity, Mr. Hubner says, "Would people be as willing to take notice of the needs of our northern youth and Polar Bears International, if I was going on a ski vacation to Colorado?" he said. "The extreme nature of it... it's extreme enough to hopefully have people notice and take action. And if people do that, because it's extreme, than that's fantastic."

For more information on Mr. Hubner's journey and how to contribute to the cause, visit www.baffin.com.