December 14, 1911 – Roald Amundsen Arrived at the South Pole

Roald Amundsen of Norway completed preparations for an expedition to the North Pole in 1910. Upon learning that American Robert Peary had already arrived he changed course for Antarctica in a new race against English explorer Robert F. Scott. He beat Scott by one month.

Amundsen the Explorer

Amundsen dropped out of what is now the University of Oslo to go to sea. In 1899 he sailed on the Belgica and became part of the first group to winter in Antarctica. It was not by choice; the ship became trapped in an ice pack and drifted until the following spring.

Later he planned to drift over the North Pole with Norwegian explorer Nansen on the ship the Fram. The ship was different from others in that it was specifically designed for polar travel:

• One-third as wide as it was long
• Round-bottomed
• Would respond to sideways pressure by rising up above the ice pack

South Pole Expedition

Having lost out on the opportunity to be the first to the North Pole, Amundsen changed his plans and headed for the South Pole. His party left Norway in August 1910. They carried provisions to last two years as well as 100 Greenland sled dogs to be used to complete the non-sea journey to the South Pole.

On January 14, 1911 the Fram reached the Bay of Whales in Antarctica and established a winter base called Framheim. When spring arrived, eight men with sledges pulled by 86 dogs set out for the South Pole. Colder-than-usual weather forced them to return to the base. Eventually, a team of five men departed, each with a sledge pulled by 13 dogs.

The men brought rations for themselves. They started out by feeding the dogs seal blubber but eventually shot some dogs to feed to the rest.

Roald Amundsen, Olav Olavson Bjaaland, Hilmer Hanssen, Sverre H. Hassel, and Oscar Wistling arrived at the South Pole at 3:00 p.m. on December 14, 1911. They erected a tent in which they placed a letter and then started the return journey to their base. All five men and 11 of the dogs completed the journey 39 days later.

Scott's expedition had used different tactics; these proved fatal. The team's base cam was 60 miles farther from the South Pole than Amundsen's. They used motor sledges, ponies, and dogs to make the trip. The motor sledges broke down, the ponies were shot, and the dog teams had to be returned to base. Scott and four men continued to the South Pole on foot and arrived on January 19, 1912. None of the explorers completed the return journey; all perished and the bodies of Scott and two team members were found frozen in a tent in November 1912.

Resources:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/amundsen-reaches-south-pole

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%20fact%20file/History/roald%20amundsen.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amundsen's_South_Pole_expedition