Amundsen & the South Pole
Initially, Amundsen planned to journey to the North Pole, but when he heard that Frederick Cook and Robert E. Peary had supposedly reached it in different missions; he set his sights on the South Pole.
At this stage, the South Pole was considered the last undiscovered land mass on Earth and the race to the Pole was an unforgettable battle between Amundsen and British explorer Captain Robert F. Scott. The British explorer knew time was of the essence as Ernest Shackleton had just fallen short in his recent attempt.
Scott was forced to press on with his plans after learning that Peary was planning an attempt on the South Pole in 1912. However, his biggest threat was unquestionably the well-prepared Norwegian team. Amundsen left Norway on the ship Fram on June 3, 1910, and, after a quick stop at Madeira, the crew landed at the Great Ice Barrier at the Bay of Whales on January 14, 1911.
Amundsen established the expedition’s base camp ‘Framheim’ there. He used the knowledge gleaned from the Inuits he met on the previous mission by wearing furred skins and using sled dogs and skis for transport. He also planned to kill some of the dogs and eat their fresh meat at the appropriate time.
This careful preparation was in stark contrast to his British rivals who used ponies for transportation, did not bring a wireless and were plagued with low morale for the duration of their ill-fated quest. Even their landing spot, at Cape Evans, was up to 60 miles further away from the South Pole than Amundsen’s.
Of course, not everything went smoothly for the Norwegians either. Their first attempt to reach the pole was a failure in September 1911, but they regrouped and tried again on October 19, 1911.
Amundsen and four team members made the journey with four sleds and over 50 dogs. They made their way to the South Pole via the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier. By November 21, victory was almost in sight as the group reached the Polar Plateau.
Finally, on December 14, 1911, the five men reached 90 degrees South, Amundsen had achieved his goal. They left a letter in a tent near the Pole outlining their achievements in case they didn’t make it home. However, their journey back to camp was relatively uneventful, and they reached Framheim on January 25, 1912.
The Fram reached Hobart in Tasmania, Australia on March 7, 1912, where Amundsen announced his success to the world. While the Norwegians returned home as conquering heroes, their British counterparts found only desolation and death.
After arriving at the South Pole some 33 days after Amundsen, Scott surveyed the barren landscape and declared that it was “an awful place.” Scott never made it home as he died on the way back to base camp along with several other men.