Temperatures at the South Pole are much lower than at the North Pole, primarily because the South Pole is located at altitude in the middle of a continental land mass, while the North Pole is at sea level in the middle of an ocean (which acts as a reservoir of heat).
Poleti 2011/12 so norvežan Aleksander Gamme ter avstralca James Castrission in Justin Jones v ločenih odpravah kot prvi dosegli Južni tečaj peš, brez pomoči psov ali vetra.