Amundsen Becomes First to Reach South Pole, December 14, 1911 - Scientific American Scientific American Amundsen Becomes First to Reach South Pole, December 14, 1911 Under the command of Roald Amundsen, the South Pole was discovered 100 years ago Advertisement | Report Ad One hundred years ago today the South Pole was reached by a party of Norwegian explorers under the command of Roald Amundsen. The existence of the pole had been known, but the inhospitable landscape presented a barrier until Amundsen’s party made the dangerous trek across ice and snow to stand at the geographical South Pole on this day a century ago. One of Amundsen’s competitors, Robert Falcon Scott and his party, achieved a different kind of fame: they arrived on January 17, 1912 to find they were second in the race to fame, and they perished on their way back north. News of Amundsen’s achievement was telegraphed to the world on March 7, 1912, on his return to Hobart, Australia. From Scientific American, Vol. CV1, No.

11, March 16, 1911 The Discovery of the South Pole It is much too early to give any critical account of Capt. Roald Amundsen's achievement. Many weeks must elapse before we are in complete possession of all his data. Yet even the laconic account, which he has cabled to the press, throws a flood of light on the mystery of Antarctic geography. Amundsen seems to have collected enough evidence to substantiate the theory that the great chain of mountains which extends almost uninterruptedly from Alaska to Patagonia finds its continuation in a ridge connecting Victoria Land and King Edward VII Land, and which, in honor of his queen, he has named "Queen Maude's Range." The ice barrier, which had proved for a century and a half a formidable obstacle to Antarctic exploration, is found to terminate in a bay, lying between the southeast mountain range running from South Victoria Land and a range which is probably a continuation of King Edward the VII Land and which extends in a southwesterly direction. Contrary to his original plan, Amundsen despatched one of his officers, Lieut.

Prestud, to survey the Bay of Whales and the great ice barrier and to explore King Edward VII Land, of which practically nothing is known. No doubt the spur of competition played its part in unfolding the secrets of the last unexplored frigid region of the earth. Amundsen and his party at the geographic South Pole, December 14, 1911. CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY OF NORWEGIAN-U.S. SCIENTIFIC TRAVERSE OF EAST ANTARCTICA No less than four other expeditions were in the Antarctic regions at the time while Amundsen was forcing his way south. Besides Amundsen's, there was the Japanese expedition under Lieut. Shirase, which had to retreat to Australia last spring in order to replenish its supply of dogs, and which Amundsen says landed on January 16th at the Bay of Whales, two weeks before he sailed for home; Dr. Mawson's Australian expedition, for which $215,000 had been raised up to November 1st last, and which was to land three parties between Cape Adare and Gaussberg; the German expedition under Lieut.

Filchner in the "Deutschland," elaborately equipped with wireless, magnetic, and meteorological apparatus, full of the hope of establishing a base southwest of Coats Land in as high a latitude as possible; and lastly, Capt. Scott's English expedition in the "Terra Nova," which left New Zealand in November, 1910, badly damaged by stormy weather; so badly, indeed, that the necessary repairs and the cost of making good the stores that had been lost seriously depleted the resources of the party. Amundsen seems to have been helped by exceptionally favorable weather conditions. To be sure, there were storms, but not those frightful hurricanes which thwarted Shackleton. It was cold, so cold that the dogs suffered visibly; yet the average temperature was no lower than that in many an inhabited part of Canada. Amundsen himself states that part of his journey was much like a pleasure trip--"excellent ground, fine sledging, and an even temperature." The glaciers and crevasses make detours necessary, yet, despite them, progress was remarkably rapid. The party climbed up 2,000 to 5,000 feet in a day.

Throughout much of his journey Amundsen covered entirely new ground. Therefore he will bring back absolutely new information of Antarctic geography. He made up his mind that he would reach the plateau on which the Pole is situated by another route than that of Beardmore Glacier. Luck, instinct, experience, call it what you will, the new route proved easier than that which either Shackleton or Scott took on their expeditions. To that comparatively easy route, coupled with exceptionally favorable weather, may be attributed Amundsen's success. From Scientific American, Vol. CVI, No. 12, March 23, 1912 Amundsen's Attainment of the South Pole Progress of Antarctic Exploration By G. W. Littlehales, Hydrographic Office, United States Navy The legendary limits of the Terra Australis of ancient and medieval cartographers, whose northerly coast was represented in art in the time of Ptolemy as extending eastward from Southern Africa toward China and inclosing the Indian Ocean, began to recede to the southward on the map of the world in the generation which produced Columbus, da Gama, and Magellan and disclosed America, the route to the Indies, and the circumnavigation of the globe.

In the latter part of the sixteenth century the number of maps representing had noticeably lessened, and, by the end of the eighteenth century, it had faded from the minds of geographers. The voyages of Cook in the latter part of the eighteenth century constituted the first circumnavigation of the south polar regions. He reached latitudes in some parts of his circuit which have even at the present time been scarcely surpassed, and, disproving the ancient beilef in a great Terra Australis Incognita extending northward of the sixtieth degree parallel of south latitude, the state of geographical knowledge such that the maps after his time mark "Antarctic Ocean" across the regions of the South Pole. The sum total or added knowledge in the sixty years following Cook's voyages had led to a general belief that around the South Pole was a scattered archipelago and not a continental mass, a state of geographical information that was not materially changed until the discovery by Charles Wilkes that after all there is a great Antarctic land, even if it is smaller than the land of legend.

It will be remembered that, during the year 1839, after having examined many of the island groups with which the vast area of the Pacific Ocean is studded, the United States Exploring Expedition, of which Wilkes was the commander, had reached the Australian shores. On the day after Christmas in 1889 the " Vincennes," "Peacock," "Porpoise," and "Flying Fish" headed southward from Sydney and, falling in with the land in latitude 64 degrees south and longitude 158 degrees East of Greenwich, on the 16th of January following, skirted the border of a new continent to the westward as far as longitude 97 degrees East of Greenwich.

Returning to Sydney, Wilkes announced his discovery, in the following words, in a report to the Secretary of the Navy, dated March 11th, 1840: "It affords me much gratification to report that we have discovered a large body of land within the Antarctic Circle, which I have named the Antarctic Continent, and refer you to the report of our cruise and accompanying charts, enclosed herewith, for full information relative thereto." At one or two points along this coast line, the French expedition under D’Urville, at nearly the same time, confirmed the existence of the land thus reported. Wilkes' work was not only important because he traced this coast for 1,700 miles, but also on account of the geological collections made by the expedition led by him, which showed that the land is formed of granite, massive sandstones, and other rocks of continental type, and further on account of the magnetic observations which were so numerous and well taken us to permit of the deduction of the earliest assigned position of the south magnetic pole.

A year later the extension of Wilkes Land to the eastward and the southward was charted by the famous British expedition under James Clark Ross, which discovered Victoria Land and the mountains of Erebus and Terror and surpassed all previous records in the Antarctic by reaching the latitude of 78 degrees. After the voyages of Wilkes and Ross, there was a long interval before serious work in the Antarctic was renewed. Until the close of the nineteenth century there was no part of the world about which less was known, and none about which so little interest was taken. This was probably due in part to its distance from the center of wealth and thought, and in part also to its dearth of animal and vegetable life and to its unpeopled state. It is only from the scientific side that human interest can he evoked in the desolate wastes of Antarctica. That this continent, whose present unexplored and unvisited extent is twice the area of Europe, was larger in former geological ages is scarcely to be doubted. In all probability it has been connected with Africa, South America, Australia, and New Zealand, although most likely not with all of them at the same time. This is suggested by the living and fossil floras and faunas of these lands.

At the time of the revival of Antarctic exploration in the beginning of the present century, knowledge of Antarctica was of two grades: in some areas the approaches from the sea had been explored; of the rest nothing was known, Knowledge of the first grade existed only in relation to two or three parts of the continent. They were Palmer Land with its associated islands, the coast of Victoria Land with the adjacent Ross Sea, and, to a lesser extent, the coast of Wilkes Land, The rest of the continental limits of the Antarctic was known only through the interpretation of imperfectly recorded observations and the speculations arising from distant and uncertain views.

The work of Krech, Gerlache, Borchgravink, and Bruce had not yet been done; the examinations of the “Belgica,” the “Francais,” and the “Pourquoi Pas” had not yet made known the extension of Palmer Land to the southwestward along the southern confines of the Pacific Ocean ; the explorations of the German Antarctic Expedition in the "Gauss" had not yet confirmed the conclusion of Wilkes that the long coast which he had discovered in 1840 extended still farther to the westward ; the Antarctic Continent had not yet been entered at any point and consequently that acquaintance with the general topography which constitutes the first essential to the scientific investigation of a country was wholly wanting, It was the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901 to 1904, under Capt. R. F. Scott, that first penetrated Antarctica. This expedition landed on the southwestern confines of the Ross Sea, and, by its explorations, showed that the great ice barrier is in reality the front of an enormous ice field or glacier, mainly floating on the surface of an extended bay or sea, and fed by glaciers coming down from the elevated land on the westerly side and probably also on the eastern.

Scott traveled southward up the western margin of the ice field 400 miles to a point in latitude 82 deg. 16 min. 33 sec. south. He also climbed from his headquarters on MacMurdo Sound to the summit of the high table land to the westward. Map of Amundsen’s journey, from Scientific American, Vol. CVI, No. 12, March 23, 1912. CREDIT: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Shackleton's expedition of 1907 to 1909 penetrated at the same place that Scott entered, and traveled up the western border of the ice field along the route which had been pursued by his predecessor until he reached a great glacier, named Beardmore Glacier, coming down from the highlands to the westward. He followed up this glacier to the summit of the plateau and then continued to the southward until he reached a point in latitude 88 deg. 23 min. south, only 97 miles from the South Pole. At this point the elevation was 10,000 feet above the level of the sea.

While this journey to the southward was in progress, another party of the expedition climbed Mount Erebus, and a third party reached the south magnetic pole and located it, in 72 deg. 25 min. south, and 155 deg. 16 min. east, in a position 40 miles distant from the position deduced from the surrounding magnetic observations of the expedition under Scott. The observations in either case were not sufficient, however, to warrant drawing a conclusion as to the actual change in the position of the magnetic poled between 1903 and 1909. Five expeditions were sent to the Antarctic during the past year, for the purpose of reaching the South Pole, or for the exploration of the Antarctic Continent, or both. The first is the British Expedition under the command of Capt, R. F. Scott, who was the leader of the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901 to 1904. He sailed from Port Chalmers, New Zealand, in his ship, the "Terra Nova" November 29th, 1910.

He made a successful landing at a point near his former situation in MacMurdo Sound, and continued to be engaged in exploration to the southward. A German expedition under Lieut. Wilhelm Filchner left early in the year 1911, intending to make a landing somewhere on the shore of the Weddell Sea, perhaps on Coats Land, on the opposite side of the Antarctic Continent from Capt. Scott’s headquarters. No reports have yet been received from him. A Japanese expedition started for the Antarctic, intending to make a landing upon King Edwrd VII Land. Before reaching its projected landing place, however, this expedition suffered a series of mishaps, the chief of which was the loss of nearly all the dogs upon which relicance had been placed for transportation. Near the close of the year 1911, another expedition started for it field of exploration in the Antarctic. This is the Australian expedition under the leadership of Dr. Douglas Mawson, geologist of the Shackleton expedition.

The “Aurora,” a barkentine of 580 tons with auxiliary steam-propulsion in which the expedition sailed, has recently returned to Australia bringing the report that two separate parties have been landed on those part of Wilkes Land known respectively as Adelie Land and Termination Land. Capt. Roald Amundsen, the discoverer of the Northwest Passage, left Norway in June, 1910, in the “Fram,” seemingly with the intention of sailing around Cape Horn, however, he sailed to the westward across the South Pacific, and made a landing at whale Bay on the ice sheet covering Ross Sea. This place is in King Edward VII. Land, near the eastern end of the ice front, and on the opposite shore of the Ross Sea, from the point at which Scott and Shackleton have made their successful entrances into the interior of the continent. The expedition was in winter-quarters at Whale Bay until September, 1911, and, on the 20th of October. the main party made the final start for the South Pole, leaving a subsidiary party to carry on explorations and make a geological collection in King Edward VII Land. In less than a month.

the south-bound expedition had cleared that vast plain of floating ice which flows down from the great mountains of the interior and covers the southern part of Ross Sea throughout an area above 20,000 square miles with an ice sheet approximately 800 feet in thickness, and had begun to climb the heights which form the mountainous embayment at the head of Ross Sea. The glacial streams descending through the depressions among the mountain slopes constituted the usual lines of travel, and the route developed was new and independent, passing among mountain peaks rising to the height of 15,000 and 18,000 feet above the sea and gradually mounting to a maximum level before the Pole was reached and thence descending very gradually for 140 miles over a vast plateau to the position which was occupied on December l5th and 16th, 1911, and determined to be the South Pole.

As a result of Amundsen's expedition, important additions may be laid down upon the map of Antarctica in the sector of the earth’s surface extending from the South Pole to the 80th degree parallel of latitude between the meridians 160 degrees and 180 degrees west of Greenwich. The theory of the structural unity of the Pacific is well established, and, according to it, the Pacific Ocean must be bounded on the south by a coast of the “Pacific type.” With one exception in Central America. the whole of the known coasts of the Pacific belong to this type. The main characteristic of this form of coast is that the trend is determined by mountain ranges running parallel to the shore. In the South Pacific, this type is well exemplified in New Zealand on one side and by the Andes of South America on the other. In the southern part of Patagonia the Andes are turned from their meridional course and run eastward across Tierra del Fuego. The tectonic line of the Andes is then apparently bent southward, and reappears in Palmer Land.

It is probably continued around the southern Pacific meeting the end of the New Zealand line and the Victoria Range in the mighty mountains which Amundsen, in his approaches to the South Pole, discovered in the shape of what he has named the Maude Range stretching off to the southeastward as far as 88 degrees south. The principles of geomorphology would also suggest that from the lofty mountain axis bordering the Pacific there should slope downward, across the Pole, a broad plateau to Weddell Sea on the one side and the bight between Wilkes Land and Enderly Land on the other; and this interpretation is borne out by the description of the plateau conditions which were found to exist around the South Pole. So far the facts published concerning the information gathered by Amundsen are chiefly geographical and topographical. and hence the illustration of the nature of the scientific hearings of the accessions to knowledge which his expedition has produced are drawn from these materials; but, as other branches of the information embraced in his observations are unfolded, other theoretical applications will appear for the advancement of philosophy and such of the geographical sciences as meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, concerning which the observations made in the South Polar regions tend in some respects to deliver the deciding stroke in the elaboration.

On This Day: Roald Amundsen Becomes First Man to Reach South Pole more » National Library of Australia Four of the five explorers in Amundsen’s team are pictured at the South Pole by the fifth member, Olav Bjaaland, Dec. 14, 1911. On This Day: Roald Amundsen Becomes First Man to Reach South Pole December 14, 2011 06:00 AM by findingDulcinea Staff On Dec. 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen and four fellow Norwegian explorers became the first men to reach the South Pole, beating the ill-fated team of British Capt. Robert F. Scott by just over a month. The Race to the South Pole Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer who in 1898 was part of the first expedition to winter in Antarctica and in 1903 became the first man to sail through the Northwest Passage, had been planning an expedition to the North Pole in September 1910, but he lost interest when he heard that Americans Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had each achieved the feat in April 1909.

Amundsen secretly began planning to travel to the South Pole instead. In October, he sent a telegram notifying British explorer Robert Falcon Scott, who was a preparing a South Pole exploration, of his intentions. “Beg leave inform you proceeding Antarctic. Amundsen,” the telegram read. Thus began the race to the South Pole . Each party arrived in Antarctica in January 1911; Scott established base camp at McMurdo Sound, while Amundsen set up his camp, called Framheim, at the Bay of Whales on the Ross Ice Shelf, located 60 miles closer to the pole. The two parties prepared for the journey to the pole by making expeditions south and establishing supply depots along their intended paths. The Amundsen party, which relied on sled dogs, reached farther south than the Scott party, whose Siberian ponies were less equipped for the conditions. Amundsen set off for the pole with seven men in September, the start of the Antarctic spring. Just days into their trip, the weather turned cold, and they retreated back to Framheim. Hjalmer Johansen criticized Amundsen’s leadership and was expelled from the traveling party; the humiliated Johansen would later commit suicide upon his return to Norway.

Amundsen began his second push for the pole on Oct. 20, accompanied by four men and more than 50 dogs. Scott and his 13 men set off from their camp on Nov. 1 with dogs, ponies and motor sledges. The Scott party was slowed by many setbacks: the motor sledges did not work reliably in the cold and the ponies could not manage the journey. The explorers had to abandon the sledges and they eventually killed all the ponies for food. Traveling much lighter, the Amundsen team had few difficulties. On the afternoon of Dec. 14, the five explorers—Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Olav Bjaaland, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting—became the first men to ever reach the South Pole. Amundsen later wrote: “ After we had halted we collected and congratulated each other . … After this we proceeded to the greatest and most solemn act of the whole journey—the planting of our flag. … I had determined that the act of planting it—the historic event—should be equally divided among us all.

It was not for one man to do this; it was for all who had staked their lives in the struggle, and held together through thick and thin.” Related Events Roald Amundsen Was First to Reach the South Pole | HMH In The News HMH In The News December 2011 Roald Amundsen Was First to Reach the South Pole Roald Amundsen and his team used skis and dogsleds to travel across Antarctica’s icy landscape. One hundred years ago, on December 14, 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the Geographic South Pole. The Geographic South Pole is the southernmost point on Earth. It is located on the ice-covered continent of Antarctica. In the early 1900s, the South Pole was one of the last unexplored places on Earth. Amundsen was in a hurry to start the long journey to the South Pole. He was in a race against British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Both Amundsen and Scott wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole.

Amundsen and his team set out on September 8, 1911, when it was still winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The extremely cold temperatures forced them to turn back. Winter temperatures in Antarctica can be as cold as -80ºF. On October 19, 1911, Amundsen tried again. He and his team traveled on skis. They carried their supplies on four sleds, each pulled by 13 dogs. For almost two months, they traveled more than 800 miles over rugged, unmapped land. They crossed the ice-covered Queen Maud Mountains and faced some of the harshest weather on Earth. In mid-December, Amundsen and his team reached the South Pole and planted the Norwegian flag. Amundsen had won the race. He and his team arrived more than 30 days before Scott. Today, people continue to be inspired by the adventures of Roald Amundsen and other Antarctic explorers. In November 2011, 16-year-old Amelia Hempleman-Adams began her own adventure to the South Pole. She traveled to Antarctica with her father, British explorer David Hempleman-Adams.

They started their 14-day ski trip 97 miles from the South Pole. On December 9, Amelia became the youngest person ever to ski to the South Pole. There, she and her father took a tour of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, a scientific research station named for the famous explorers. Image credit: ©Alamy Images Read Amelia’s online journal about her South Pole adventure. Race to the South Pole | TIME For Kids Race to the South Pole Today marks the 100th anniversary of the first successful expedition to the globe's southernmost point December 14, 2011 Print GETTY IMAGES After arriving at the South Pole on December 14, 1911, explorer Roald Amundsen (left) spent three days there with his companions: Oscar Wisting, Sverre Hassel, Helmer Hanssen and Olav Bjaaland (the photographer, not pictured). On December 14, 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his four-man team became the first people to reach the South Pole, where they raised the Norwegian flag in victory.

On Wednesday, exactly 100 years later, Norway’s prime minister gathered with scientists and polar adventurers at the bottom of the world to remember the famous explorer’s achievements. "We are here to celebrate one of the greatest feats in human history," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said, as he unveiled an ice sculpture of Amundsen. A Great Expedition TIME & LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. In the early 1900s, there was a race to see who could get to the South Pole first. Amundsen beat his rival, British explorer Robert Flacon Scott, by five weeks. On March 8, 1912, after learning of Amundsen's successful expedition, The New York Times wrote: "The whole world has now been discovered." Amundsen was one of the world’s most notable polar explorers. In 1903, he became the first to make a ship voyage through the Northwest Passage, the sea route through the Arctic Ocean on the northern coast of North America. After learning that American explorer Robert E.

Peary had reached the North Pole first in April 1909, Amundsen made secret plans for a South Pole expedition. At the time, the South Pole was considered to be the last great, undiscovered territory. On October 19, 1911, Amundsen set out from his base, in Bay of Whales, Antarctica, with four companions, 52 dogs and four sleds. His success in reaching the South Pole was aided by careful planning. He took a preliminary trip to drop food and supplies along the first part of his route. His use of sled dogs to carry supplies also helped. Amundsen and his men, along with 11 surviving dogs, made it back to base on January 25, 1912, quicker than expected. In addition to Norway's flag, Amundsen left behind a tent with spare equipment for Scott, and a letter addressed to the King of Norway about his accomplishment. Though Scott eventually reached the South Pole, he died while returning home. On Wednesday, Norway’s prime minister took time to remember the British explorer’s accomplishments, too.

"Scott and his men will forever be remembered for their valor and their determination to reach the most inhospitable place on Earth," Stoltenberg said. The two explorers share the name of the research station now located at the South Pole: the Amundsen-Scott Station. A Land of Research Today, Antarctica is a base for a variety of global scientific research projects, from oceanography to cosmology. Cosmology is the study of the origin and structure of the universe. The land holds many clues to Earth's past and future changes, especially those related to global climate change. Wednesday’s ceremony at the pole also served a reminder of the importance of continuing scientific research in this distant place. "The loss of ice in the Antarctic can have grave global consequences,” Stoltenberg said. “Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott and their men went to extraordinary lengths to accomplish their goals. We must be prepared to do the same.” TFK Footer Primary BBC - History - British History in depth: The Race to the South Pole The Race to the South Pole By Sian Flynn Last updated 2011-03-03 The South Pole was exploration's last great prize, and was widely expected to be won by the British.

Sian Flynn reveals how the race for Antarctic glory was run. On this page Print this page Early attempts on the Pole By the late 19th century, Antarctica was the last unexplored continent on earth. Unknown whale and seal hunters were probably the first human beings to set foot on the continent, looking for commercial opportunities. Rich Western nations eventually began to take an interest in this inhospitable terrain, with Britain, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Norway, France and Belgium all planning expeditions to Antarctica in the early years of the 20th century. They would compete against each other in its discovery, to gain knowledge and claim new territory. The geographical prize was the South Pole - the most remote spot on earth. The geographical prize was the South Pole - the most remote spot on earth... Captain Robert Falcon Scott had already been to Antarctica prior to his ill-fated Terra Nova expedition (1910-13). He commanded the Government-funded Discovery expedition (1901-4), which undertook significant scientific work. It was also the first British expedition to make an attempt to reach the Pole.

The three-man polar party comprising Scott, his friend Dr Edward Wilson and the young Ernest Shackleton, reached within 660km (410 miles) of the Pole, setting a new 'furthest south' record. Scott returned a hero. The 'Terra Nova' lying off Barne Glacier in February 1911 © Differences with Scott spurred Shackleton to mount his own expedition in Nimrod (1907-9). Although he carried out a scientific programme, his avowed aim was to be the first man to reach the South Pole. His privately funded expedition nearly reached its goal when, on 9 January 1909, Shackleton planted the Union flag within 160km (100 miles) of the Pole. To push on to the Pole would have meant certain death and the four men were lucky to return alive. Top Preparations Midwinter Day dinner, 22 June 1911, with Captain Scott at the head of the table © Scott had always planned to return to the icy continent, well before the Nimrod expedition set off. When he learnt that Shackleton's attempt on the Pole was unsuccessful, he was determined to reach it himself.

However, as he prepared for his expedition with considerable media attention, a rival was secretly planning his own expedition to claim the Pole. As Scott prepared for his expedition... a rival was secretly planning his own attempt to claim the Pole. The Norwegian Captain Roald Amundsen was already a celebrated explorer. He had sailed through the North West Passage (1903-6) and was one of the first men to winter south of the Antarctic Circle, on board the Belgica in 1898. His dream as a boy was to be the first man to set foot at the North Pole, but in 1909 there were two American claims to have reached it. The rival explorers bitterly contested each other's claims, but for Amundsen, his dream was shattered. He turned the focus of his Fram expedition (1910-12) to the South Pole, refusing to share his ideas in case people stopped him from making his attempt. Scott in his den at Cape Evans © Meanwhile Scott continued with his public plans, organising equipment and provisions and recruiting men.

In addition to seamen and scientists, Scott decided to take paying guests, among them one Captain Lawrence Oates, an army officer, who agreed to take responsibility for the ponies. The Terra Nova eventually left Cardiff in June 1910. Scott stopped off in Australia and it was here that he received a perplexing telegram from Amundsen, who had sailed the Fram to the island of Madeira in the Atlantic. 'Beg leave to inform you Fram proceeding Antarctic. Amundsen' This was all he would learn of the Norwegian's mysterious ambitions. Even Amundsen's men were only told of their leader's plans in Madeira. Amundsen gave them all the option to quit the expedition if they objected, but not one left. Despite the trepidation natural before exploring an unfamiliar continent, the Norwegian team was experienced in Arctic travel, and Amundsen was confident that the skis and dogs used in the Arctic would be just as suitable for travelling across the Antarctic continent. Top Setting up camp Birdie Bowers and Teddy Evans take lunch in the tent © The British party arrived in Antarctica in January 1911 and set up camp on Ross Island in McMurdo Sound.

Scott planned to follow the route Shackleton had pioneered towards the Pole, up the Beardmore Glacier on to the Polar Plateau. Early in the year, prior to setting off on the journey to the Pole, teams laid food and equipment depots on the route. On these arduous trips, Scott's motor sledges broke down and the ponies suffered in the extreme cold. As a result, the polar party's main 'One Ton' depot was not as far south as Scott intended. This had grim consequences for their return journey from the Pole. Amundsen rightly anticipated that there were alternative routes to the Polar Plateau... The Norwegian expedition arrived further along the Ross Ice Shelf at the Bay of Whales in January 1911, about 640km (400 miles) from the British camp. They took the risk of setting up their base camp, called 'Framheim' (Fram home), on the ice itself. Like the British, Amundsen and his men spent the first months of the expedition making extensive preparations and laying supply depots southwards. However, by using expertly trained dog teams, these vital supplies extended much further south than Scott's did.

Amundsen rightly anticipated that there were alternative routes to the Polar Plateau and the Norwegian team pioneered a new route. Roald Amundsen in the Antarctic © Amundsen set off for the Pole early in the season but temperatures of -40°C soon drove the Norwegian team back to the safety of the hut. This chaotic episode prompted a mutiny from one of the men, Hjalmer Johansen, who was a famous explorer in his own right and felt justified in criticising his leader. Amundsen could not tolerate dissent at this stage and reduced the Polar party from eight to five. Johansen never recovered from this ignominious end to his career and later, after the team had returned to Norway, he committed suicide . Amundsen's handpicked men included his loyal follower, Oscar Wisting, Olav Bjaaland - a skiing champion - and the two expert dog-drivers, Helmer Hanssen and Sverre Hassel. The party finally left for the Pole with over 50 dogs on 20 October.

Top The race is on Scott's party set off on a sledging journey © On 1 November 1911, Scott left base camp with support parties, motor sledges, dogs and ponies for his journey south. The race had begun at last. Amundsen knew of Scott's innovative motor sledges and feared the advantage they gave him, but unknown to him, they were soon abandoned due to mechanical failure in the cold. As Scott's men laid more depots, individual support teams and dogs successively turned back. The horse expert, Captain Oates, clashed with Scott over the welfare of the ponies, which were clearly not suited to the icy terrain and extreme cold. As the ponies weakened, they were shot to provide meat - some were left as food for their return. The march across the ice was slow but the men were generally in good spirits. When Scott ordered the last of the dog teams back to base camp, the men pulled their heavy sledges themselves using man-harnesses. It was exhausting work but Scott believed it was less cruel than using animals and more noble. All Amundsen had to do now was make sure the men got back to civilisation first with the news...

Relying on the skill of his two expert dog-drivers, Amundsen's party made swift progress up the newly discovered Axel Heiberg Glacier and across the Polar Plateau. At 3pm on 15 December 1911 (the date is sometimes given as 14 December - the difference being due to differing interpretations of the international date line), the Norwegian train halted: they had reached the Pole. Amundsen's diary entry for this momentous occasion was typically succinct: So we arrived and were able to plant our flag at the geographical South Pole. God be thanked! Olav Bjaaland took snapshots of the historic moment with his personal camera as Amundsen's expedition camera failed to work. Later, he was drawn into the photographs when they were published around the world. All Amundsen had to do now was make sure the men got back to civilisation first with the news, as he was not sure how close Scott was behind him. Amundsen's flag, flown at the South Pole © Scott did not choose the team for the final push to the Pole until the last support party turned back, about 240km (150 miles) from the goal.

It was at this moment he decided to include a fifth man. The extra man was the diminutive Scotsman Lieutenant Henry 'Birdie' Bowers, who had the kind of character that appealed to Scott - mentally strong, versatile and determined. In addition to Bowers, the man-hauling polar party comprised Scott, his friend Dr Edward Wilson, the strong Welshman Petty Officer Edgar Evans and Captain Oates, who represented the army. The five-man team created significant difficulties in managing use of rations and fuel. Top The race is on Captain Robert Falcon Scott in his sledging gear © On 17 January 1912, Scott arrived at the Pole - 33 days after Amundsen. It was Bowers who first caught sight of a camp in the distance and concrete evidence of a Norwegian victory. As well as the Norwegians' black marker flag, they also left a tent containing surplus equipment. Amundsen had even left Scott a note to deliver to the King of Norway in case he did not return. The temperature had dropped to -30°C, eight degrees lower than for the Norwegians. The dispirited men took pictures and left quickly. Scott wrote gloomily in his diary: The POLE.

Yes, but under very different circumstances from those expected. Great God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority. Scott flew his sledging flag at the South Pole © All the men were suffering from slow starvation, hypothermia and almost certainly scurvy (a debilitating condition caused by a vitamin C deficiency). Petty Officer Evans was the first man to die on 17 February - he had stumbled behind the group until he slipped into a coma. A month later on 17 March, Captain Oates, crippled with frostbite, walked out of the party's tent; it was his 32nd birthday. Scott immortalised the courageous army officer in his diary, writing that as he left he said: I am just going outside and may be some time... I am just going outside and may be some time... We knew that Oates was walking to his death... it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. A few days later, the three remaining men were lying in their tent waiting for death. A swirling blizzard confined them to their sleeping bags, while One Ton depot lay only 11 miles away.

Scott was the only one keeping his diary: We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more - R Scott. The race to the Pole was over. Explorers for Kids: Roald Amundsen Born: July 16, 1872 in Borge, Norway Died: June 18, 1928 during a rescue attempt Best known for: First man to visit the South Pole Biography: Roald Amundsen (1872 - 1928) was an explorer of the North and South Poles. He led the first expedition to reach the South Pole and was the first person to visit both the North and South Pole. Where did Roald grow up? Roald was born in Borge, Norway on July 16, 1872. He grew up in Norway with his three brothers. His father, who was involved with shipping industry, died when Roald was just 14 years old. Roald had dreamt of becoming an explorer, but his mother wanted him to become a doctor.

He followed his mother's wishes until she died when he was 21 years old. Then he left school to pursue his dream of exploring. Roald became a crewmember on various ships traveling to the Arctic. In 1887 he was first mate on a ship named the Belgica. It became the first expedition to survive the winter on the Arctic. Roald learned valuable lessons of survival during these early trips that would help him later on. One was that fresh seal meat had vitamin C which would help in curing scurvy. Another was to use animal skins rather than wool coats to keep warm. Northwest Passage In 1903 Roald commanded his own expedition on his ship the Gjoa. He traveled to the magnetic North Pole and was the first to discover the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This passage had been searched for over many centuries. Roald's ability to navigate and survive this trip was a great accomplishment. His ship the Gjoa Photo by Unknown South Pole Roald next planned an expedition to reach the North Pole. However, when he heard that Robert Peary claimed to have already reached the North Pole, he made last minute plans and decided to pursue the South Pole.

He kept this a secret until the last minute. He was in a race with British explorer Robert Scott to be the first to the South Pole. On January 14, 1911 Amundsen's ship, the Fram, arrived at the Bay of Whales in Antarctica . They set up camp there and prepared for the trip to the South Pole. Roald made sure that the dogs were well fed. One of the crew, a carpenter named Olav Bjaaland, redesigned the sleds they would use. He lowered the weight from 195 pounds to 50 pounds. This lower weight would be crucial in saving energy during the trip. Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition Source: Illustrated London News They set out to reach the South Pole ten months after arriving on Antarctica on October 20th. There were five men, 52 dogs, and four sleds. At first they traveled quickly, but soon they had to pass over mountains and avoid dangerous crevasses. Finally, after nearly two months of hard traveling, they reached their destination. On December 14, 1911 Roald Amundsen planted the Norwegian Flag at the South Pole.

All five of Amundsen's crew returned safely to base camp, but only 11 dogs made it back alive. The expedition took 99 days and traveled over 1,800 miles. Amundsen and the Norwegian Flag at the South Pole Source: National Library of Norway Robert Scott's British expedition reached the South Pole 35 days after Amundsen. Unfortunately, they did not make it back alive, but were found frozen to death months later. North Pole Amundsen still had the goal of reaching the North Pole . In 1926 he joined an expedition with Umberto Nobile aboard the airship Norge. They flew over the North Pole in May in what was is considered to be the first undisputed (many people dispute Robert Peary's claim) visit to the North Pole. Rescue Attempt Roald died in a plane crash during a rescue attempt on June 18, 1928. He was trying to save some of the crew of one of Nobile's airships that had crashed. Fun Facts about Roald Amundsen Amundsen, Nobile, and Lincoln Ellsworth all dropped their country's flags onto the North Pole as they flew over.

At one point he was attacked and nearly killed by a polar bear. The airship he used to fly to the North Pole in was almost 350 feet long and filled with hydrogen gas. He named the mountain range he crossed on his way to the South Pole the Queen Maud Mountains, after the queen of Norway. When he reached the South Pole, he stayed there for three days to rest and get ready for the trip back. Roald Dahl , who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, was named after Amudsen. Activities Take a ten question quiz about this page. More Explorers: Roald Amundsen - The New York Times The New York Times Supported by Roald Amundsen From " The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge” Roald Amundsen was an explorer born in Borge, Norway, in 1872. In 1897-99, Amundsen sailed with Adrien de Gerlachei’s Belgica expedition &mdash; the first to experience winter in Antarctica &mdash; to locate the southern magnetic pole. He was the first person to transit the Northwest Passage (1903-6).

In 1910, Amundsen sailed the Fram to the coast of Antarctica and with four companions was the first to reach the South Pole on Dec. 14, 1911. He later transited the Northeast Passage from Norway to Alaska (1918-20), and in 1925 he flew a dirigible over the North Pole. He died in 1928 in a plane crash while on a rescue mission in the Arctic. Roald Amundsen Linkpage Linn Ryne is assistant editor in Norinform It is 87 years since Roald Amundsen, on December 14th 1911, stood victorious at the South Pole. He had reached a goal that was the dream of many men. For the first time, human voices broke the awesome silence of the world's southernmost point. The achievement was to bring fame to Amundsen and his men. But in a letter, describing his reactions at that time, Amundsen openly confessed that "no man has ever stood at the spot so diametrically opposed to the object of his real desires", which for the ambitious Norwegian was the North Pole. For Amundsen a new goal always beckoned.

He himself described his life as a "constant journey towards the final destination." Amundsen was born in 1872 at Borge, near the town of Sarpsborg, in southeast Norway. From boyhood days his life was singularly purposeful. No nagging doubts troubled his firm resolution. He wished to be a polar explorer. He devoured all the literature he could acquire on polar exploration, particularly the ill-fated journey of the British explorer, Sir John Franklin, who with the "Erebus" and the "Terror" set out to find the Northwest Passage in 1845, and never returned. Like Fridjof Nansen , he devoted a great deal of time to training and strengthening his physique to make his body a perfect instrument for the hazardous adventures he was determined to undertake. However, he was a dutiful son, and bowed to his mother's wish that he study medicine. But at the age of 21, when both his parents had died, Roald Amundsen sold his medical textbooks, packed away the cranium he had studied and announced his intention of becoming a polar explorer.

ANTARCTIC EXPERIENCE From his painstaking study of polar exploration literature, Amundsen had learned that a common failing among polar explorers was their inability to captain a vessel. With his usual systematic approach Amundsen decided to study for his master's ticket, and in 1894 he went to sea aboard a sealing vessel. Three years later he was appointed first mate on board the "Belgica" on a Belgian-financed Antarctic expedition led by polar explorer Adrien de Gerlache de Gomery. The purpose of the voyage was to investigate the coast of Antarctica, but the expedition almost ended in disaster when the ship froze into the ice near Peter I's Island, as a result of the leader's inexperience in the polar regions. Thirteen months of anxious isolation followed before the "Belgica" finally shook off the last of the ice and entered open water. The preceding months had been arduous in the extreme. Virtually all the expedition members contracted scurvy and when the captain fell ill, Amundsen took over command. He quickly rose to the situation and put the crew to work catching seals and penguins and making warm clothes out of woollen blankets.

The "Belgica" was under Amundsen's command when it finally broke out of the ice in March 1899, making the expedition the first--albeit highly involuntary--ever to stay the winter in the Antarctic. His captain's ticket now obtained Amundsen set about planning his own Arctic expedition, in search of the Northwest Passage, the believed sea route north of the North American continent, which many had attempted to find. He realized that to gain financial backing, the expedition must have a scientific goal. In Amundsen's opinion the magnetic north pole would be a suitable subject. He therefore left for Hamburg, where he studied earth magnetism, and at the same time laid meticulous plans for his expedition. THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE The vessel Amundsen selected for the voyage was the "Gjøa" a 47 ton, 70 foot sloop which--loaded to the gunwales--set out from Christiania (now Oslo) in June 1903. The "Gjøa" crossed the North Atlantic, then hugged the west coast of Greenland before crossing to the northern end of Baffin Island.

The voyage continued into Lancaster Sound where the "Gjøa" started to nose its way through the labyrinth of islands off Canada's northwest coast. Ice floes, violent winds, fog and shallow waters were constant hazards, but towards the end of the summer the expedition found a natural harbour on King William Island, northwest of Hudson Bay. Another advantage of the location was that it was so close to the magnetic north pole that precise scientific measurements could be made there. For two years the expedition remained at the port that the men named Gjøahavn. There they built observatories, equipping them with high precision instruments. The studies they undertook not only established the position of the magnetic north pole,but also included observations of such precision that they provided experts on polar magnetism with sufficient work to last them for 20 years. Amundsen also learned from the Eskimos how to drive dog teams. He carefully observed the clothes the Eskimos wore, the food they ate and their customs, storing it all in his retentive memory for later use in polar regions. In August 1905, the scientific work was completed and the "Gjøa" resumed its westerly course through fog and drift ice.

So shallow was the channel that at one point the vessel had only one inch of water beneath its keel. As the "Gjøa" moved slowly along its perilous course, Amundsen and his crew realized that they would soon be in waters that were known and charted by navigators moving eastwards from Alaska. Should no further problems arise they would have completed the final stage of their journey through the Northwest Passage. After three weeks of mounting tension and excitement the expedition sighted a whaling ship out of San Francisco. The "Gjøa" had successfully navigated the Northwest Passage, the first vessel to do so. But shortly after this it froze into the ice, where it remained all winter. Anxious to tell the world of the expedition's achievement, Amundsen and an American companion set off in October with dog teams, travelling almost 500 miles across the ice to Eagle City in Alaska, where there was a telegraph connection with the outside world. This, his first long trip with dogs took him across 2,700 m high mountains, but on December 5, he reached Eagle City, and the news of his feat was transmitted to the world.

A CHANGE OF PLANS Now a world-renowned explorer Amundsen held a series of lectures throughout the world to pay for the Northwest Passage expedition and to gather funds for the most daring project remaining in the Arctic--the conquest of the North Pole. His new-found fame rapidly brought him the necessary capital and he was soon laying plans to drift across the pole in a ship which was frozen into the ice. The ship had even been procured. Amundsen approached Fridtjof Nansen and asked to borrow the "Fram" in which Nansen and his crew had spent three years--1893-96--drifting with the ice from Siberia towards the North Pole. Nansen had himself had plans for the "Fram" but such was his generosity that he agreed to Amundsen's request. But Amundsen's plans were shattered when, in April 1909 came the news that American Robert Peary had reached the North Pole. In a lightning-fast reaction Amundsen simply reversed his plans, changing the destination of his expedition "just as swiftly as the news (of Peary's achievement) had sped through the cables," as he himself said.

Preparations continued, but with the destination changed--to the South Pole. It was widely known that Englishman Robert Falcon Scott was working on his second attempt to reach the South Pole, and Amundsen--with his driving ambition to be first--resolved to get there before him. Not until the "Fram" reached Madeira, in the summer of 1910, did Amundsen make known to the world that he too was to make a bid for the Pole. A telegram relating the news reached Scott just as his expedition was leaving New Zealand. In January 1911, the "Fram" dropped anchor in the Bay of Whales. This Antarctic base had been carefully selected by Amundsen for its location, 60 miles closer to the Pole then Scott's base at Cape Evans. During February and March the men placed seven depots along the initial stretches of the route that was to be followed. Eminently practical, Amundsen had decided to mark the route with stockfish, which could subsequently serve as provisions. October 19 marked the start of the polar assault itself, when Amundsen set off with four companions, and four light sledges, each pulled by 13 dogs.

The first stages of the journey were surprisingly easy. At times it was even possible to just let the dogs pull the sledges while the men held on to the traces and were drawn along in comfort. All this changed when the bottomless crevasses and endless ice ridges of the Axel Heiberg Glacier posed a formidable barrier, which taxed all the strength and courage of the well-trained men. But with this obstacle behind them, the five men made relatively easy progress across the final vast plateau to the South Pole itself. Excitement mounting, they approached the Pole point. Their natural fears that Scott might, after all, have beaten them to the goal were assuaged by confidence that their rapid progress would ensure them victory. And on December 14, the Pole point was reached. Amundsen's victory in the race for the South Pole had by no means satisfied his desire to reach new goals. On his return from Antarctica, he immediately put preparations in hand for a new expedition. The Arctic was still Amundsen's first love, and he aimed to explore its remaining unknown areas and to repeat Nansen's attempt to drift over the Pole. WWI delayed the execution of the plan, but in June 1918 the expedition left Norway.

The "Fram" was no longer in a condition to use, so Amundsen designed his own ship, the "Maud," christening it--characteristically enough--not with champagne, but with a block of ice. DISAPPOINTMENT ON THE "MAUD" The "Maud" expedition, loaded with apparatus for oceanographic meteorological and earth magnetism measurements, was the biggest and best equipped geophysical expedition ever to have embarked on polar exploration. But the project was to bring one disappointment after another. Sailing into the Arctic it froze into the coastal ice and lay helpless for the two first winters. It soon needed extensive repairs. These were carried out in Seattle where the "Maud" was equipped for more years in the ice. But in June of 1922 the ship again moved north, only to freeze fast by Wrangel Island, on the far northeast of the USSR. The ship moved with the ice onto the continental shelf off northeastern Siberia, where it remained for three years.

The ambitious expedition had failed to attain its geographical goals, but the geophysical data which was compiled, largely by meteorologist/oceanographer Harald Ulrik Sverdrup, earned the ""Maud" expedition the reputation of being one of the most important research projects ever carried out in the Arctic. Something had been salvaged from the wreckage of disappointment. WINGS OVER THE POLE? Amundsen had shown an early interest in aviation as an aid to polar research. On its last venture northwards the "Maud" had on board two small planes. One of these was intended for observation purposes, the other, a larger craft, for flying due north from Alaska. Both aircraft crashlanded fairly soon, though the pilots survived the accidents. The "Maud's" failure to achieve its primary goal had not inspired confidence in any air conquest of the North Pole. Amundsen met little interest in his attempts to gather funds for his latest endeavour--to be the first man to fly over the North Pole. Arriving in New York after an unsuccessful lecture tour, his spirits at a low ebb, Amundsen was contacted by an American hitherto unknown to him, Lincoln Ellsworth.

To Amundsen's delight he proposed to finance the purchase of two flying boats and to cover some of the other expenses in return for taking part in the expedition. Amundsen procured pilots and mechanics for the two aircraft and on May 21 1925 the two planes took off from Spitsbergen headed for Alaska. But as early as the next morning one of the aircraft's petrol tanks sprang a leak, and the other had engine trouble. Both aircraft landed on the ice some 150 km from the Pole. Only one of them could be used after this. After the six men--using only hand tools--had hewn out a primitive runway, the pilot, Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, in a masterly exhibition of the art of flying, managed to take off with all six men on board. The aircraft was overloaded, but with its last drops of fuel managed to reach Nordaustlandet, an island in the Svalbard group, where the six men were plucked from the sea and brought back to Norway. Contrary to expectations, this most unsuccessful of all Amundsen's polar exploits caught the popular imagination of the whole world.

Amundsen was again a hero and was accorded a rapturous welcome when he returned to Oslo. Amundsen described the reception as the happiest memory of his life. TRIUMPH--ON THE "NORGE" Now convinced that aircraft were not yet suited to transpolar flights, Amundsen thought that it might be possible to fly from continent to continent in an airship. In a surprisingly short space of time he procured funds for a new venture. On May 11 1926 the tireless explorer left Spitsbergen aboard the airship "Norge" (Norway). With him were Lincoln Ellsworth, Italian Umberto Nobile--who had constructed the vessel and flew it--and the brilliant pilot Hjalmar Riiser-Larsen, who served as navigator. In addition there was a crew of 12. After a flight of only 16 hours, the jubilant men were able to drop the Norwegian, American and Italian flags over the North Pole. On 14 May the "Norge" landed at Teller in Alaska.

The crew had covered 5,456 kilometres in 72 hours, and were the first men to have flown from Europe to America. The route of the "Norge" had been plotted right across unknown polar territory, and Amundsen was able to state that there were no land areas there. The last remaining blank on the world map had been filled in. The acclaim of the world reached new heights. In the USA and Japan in particular, his name was especially revered. But the period was saddened by an unfortunate enmity that had arisen between Amundsen and Umberto Nobile, who tried to detract from Amundsen's part in the "Norge" flight, while Amundsen criticized the airship. Nevertheless, he showed his magnanimity to the full when the news came in May, 1928 that Nobile's new airship, the "Italia" had crashed in the Arctic. Without hesitation Amundsen volunteered to take part in a rescue attempt, and in June he was one of six men who took off from the town of Tromsø in a French aircraft, the Latham. Nobile and his crew were rescued on 22 June.

But three hours after Amundsen's plane took off it transmitted what were to be its final signals. The aircraft never returned. From the Internet site, "ODIN," produced for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Norinform. Textual reproduction permitted. A link to that site is provided at the bottom of the Great Norwegians Homepage. The American Experience | Alone on the Ice | People & Events | Roald Amundsen People & Events Roald Amundsen Roald Engebreth Gravning Amundsen of Norway took pride in being referred to as "the last of the Vikings." A powerfully built man of over six feet in height, Amundsen was born into a family of merchant sea captains and prosperous ship owners in 1872. As a youth he insisted on sleeping with the windows open even during the frigid Norwegian winters to help condition himself for a life of polar exploration. Amundsen developed a fascination with Antarctica from the time he first glimpsed its frozen terrain in 1897. Antarctica, a continent the size of Europe and Australia combined, had not yet been traversed by humans. Amundsen aimed to be the first.

In 1903 he established himself as a sailor and explorer of the first order when he successfully led a 70-foot fishing boat through the entire length of the Northwest Passage, a treacherous ice-bound route that wound between the northern Canadian mainland and Canada's Arctic islands. The arduous journey took three years to complete as Amundsen and his crew had to wait while the frozen sea around them thawed enough to allow for navigation. Soon after his return to Norway, he learned that Englishman Ernest Shackleton was setting out of an attempt to reach the South Pole. Shackleton would be forced to abandon his quest a mere 97 miles short of the Pole. Amundsen studied all he could of Shackleton's attempt and began the long process of preparing for his own. He was as highly regarded for his skills in organization and planning as he was for his expertise as an explorer. Amundsen, who was thought to be "taciturn under the best of circumstances," took special measures to be sure members of his crew possessed personalities suitable to long polar voyages.

Crew members onboard his ships knew he was firm but fair, and affectionately referred to him as "the chief." By August of 1910, Amundsen was ready to make his own attempt to reach the South Pole, although all the world thought he was headed in the complete opposite direction. He had secretly ruled out attempting to reach the North Pole, because Americans Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had already laid claim to that feat. Amundsen even kept his plans for a South Pole expedition a secret from officials within the Norwegian government. He feared that government officials would be hesitant to challenge Great Britain, upon whom they were highly dependent, in a race to the Pole. It was not until Amundsen's ship, "Fram", was well off the coast of Morocco that he announced to his crew that they were headed for the South, not the North, Pole. Crucial to Amundsen's success in reaching the South Pole was his use of carefully selected sled dogs. Amundsen's canine crew members had been superbly equipped by centuries of natural selection for survival in the Arctic. He referred to them as "our children," and revealed, "The dogs are the most important thing for us.

The whole outcome of the expedition depends on them." On October 18, 1911 Amundsen's entourage set out from the Bay of Whales, on Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf, for their final drive toward the pole. His British counterpart, Robert Scott, dependent on Siberian ponies rather than on dogs, began his trip three weeks later. Aided by exceptionally cooperative weather conditions, Amundsen's party, passed the point where Shackleton was forced to turn back on December 7. At approximately 3pm on December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen raised the flag of Norway at the South Pole, and naming the spot Polheim -- "Pole Home." He and his crew returned to their base camp on January 25, 1912, 99 days and 1,860 miles after their departure. Robert Scott's journey, on the other hand, was marred by tragedy. Scott wrote, "Our luck in weather is preposterous." From December 4 to December 8, 1911, Scott and his party were confined to their tents, forced to wait out a series of howling blizzards.

As they ate away their precious rations, time slipped through their hands. By the time Scott's party reached the Pole on January 17, 1912, the Norwegians had come and gone. Scott's log records: "This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have labored to it without reward of priority." Scott and his men had lost crucial time in reaching the pole and now faced the grim prospect of heading back to their base camp during the increasingly frigid Antarctic autumn. It was a journey they would never complete. On March 29, 1912, having endured blizzards and temperatures that fell to 40 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, Scott crawled into a tent with his two surviving party members and put down his final words: "For God's sake look after our people." Eight months later a search party found the frozen corpses of Scott and his men. They were only 11 miles away from a food and fuel depot they had left on their trek out. Roald Amundsen lived to experience other polar adventures, including flying over the North Pole in a dirigible in 1926. But the Arctic would eventually claim his life, too.

While flying on a rescue mission in 1928, Amundsen was killed when his plane crashed into the Arctic Ocean. That same year, speaking to a journalist about his love of the icy Arctic, Amundsen said, "If only you knew how splendid it is up there, that's where I want to die."

Question: In what year did Roald Amundsen reach the South Pole for the first time?
Answer: 1911