After a grueling 800-mile trek with dog sleds across the Antarctic ice, Roald Amundsen's Norwegian team planted their flag at the South Pole. Their meticulous planning, reliance on skis and huskies, and cautious pacing contrasted sharply with the British expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, which would arrive over a month later and perish on the return journey.
Amundsen had actually set out for the North Pole, but after learning that Robert Peary claimed to have reached it in 1909, he quietly redirected his ship, the Fram, southward without telling his crew or backers until they were already at sea. This audacity, combined with obsessive preparation, defined the expedition.
His team used dogs rather than the ponies and man-hauling that doomed Scott's rival British party, and Amundsen's men ate well, supplementing rations with fresh seal meat to stave off scurvy. On December 14, five men—Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting—stood at 90 degrees south and planted the Norwegian flag, naming the plateau after King Haakon VII.
They left a small tent stocked with supplies and a letter for Scott, in case Amundsen's own return journey failed. Scott's team, arriving on January 17, 1912, found the tent and Amundsen's note confirming defeat. Scott wrote in his diary, 'Great God! This is an awful place.' All five members of Scott's polar party died on the return trek, making Amundsen's triumph all the more stark by comparison.
Key people: Roald Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Robert Falcon Scott