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Roald Amundsen had spent nearly two
years preparing his Arctic expedition.

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He had secured funding from the Norwegian
Crown and hand-picked a trusted crew.

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He’d even received the blessing of famed
explorer Fridtjof Nansen, along with the

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use of his ship Fram, specially
constructed to withstand the ice.

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Now, with the voyage departing, he had 
one final announcement for his shipmates:

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They were going to head in the
opposite direction.

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By the early 20th century, nearly every 
region of the globe had been visited and

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mapped, with only two key locations
remaining: the North Pole, deep in the

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frozen waters of the Arctic region, 
and the South Pole, nestled within a

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recently discovered icy continent
in the vast Antarctic Ocean.

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A veteran of several expeditions, 
Amundsen had long dreamed of

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reaching the North Pole.
But in 1909, amidst his preparations,

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news came that American explorers
Frederick Cook and Robert Peary had staked

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rival claims to the achievement.
Instead of abandoning the planned voyage,

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Amundsen decided to alter its course to
what he called “the last great problem.”

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But Amundsen’s crew weren’t 
the only ones kept in the dark.

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British naval officer Robert F. Scott had
already visited the Antarctic, and was

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leading his own South Pole expedition.
Now, as Scott’s ship Terra Nova reached

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Melbourne in autumn 1910, he was greeted
with the news that Amundsen

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was also heading south.
Reluctantly, Scott found himself pitted

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against the Norwegian in what the 
newspapers called a ‘race to the Pole.’

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Yet if it was a race,
it was a strange one.

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The expeditions left at different times
from different locations, and they had

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very different plans for the journey.
Amundsen was focused solely

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on reaching the Pole.
Informed by his Arctic exploration,

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he drew on both Inuit and Norwegian 
experience, arriving with a small team of

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men and more than a hundred dogs.
His explorers were clothed in sealskin

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and furs, as well as specially
designed skis and boots.

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But Scott's venture was more complicated.
Launching an extensive scientific

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research expedition, he traveled with
over three times more men than Amundsen,

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alongside over 30 dogs, 19 Siberian 
ponies, and three state-of-the-art

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motorized sledges. 
But these additional tools and bodies

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weighed down the ship as it battled
the storms of the southern ocean.

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And as they finally began to lay supplies,
they found both their ponies and

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motor-sledges ineffective
in the harsh ice and snow.

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In the spring of 1911, after waiting out
the long polar night, both parties began

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the journey south. 
Scott’s team traveled over the Beardmore

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Glacier, following the path of Ernest
Shackleton’s earlier attempt

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to reach the pole.
But although this course had been

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documented, it proved slow and laborious. 
Meanwhile, despite an initial false start,

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Amundsen’s five-man team made good time
using a previously uncharted route through


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the same Transantarctic Mountains.
They stayed ahead of Scott’s team,

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and on December 14, arrived first
at their desolate destination.

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To avoid the ambiguity that surrounded
Cook’s and Peary’s North Pole claims,

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Amundsen’s team traversed the area in
a grid to make sure they

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covered the Pole’s location.
Along with flags and a tent marker,

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they left a letter for Scott, which would
not be found until over a month later.

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But when Scott’s party finally reached
the pole, losing the ‘race’ was 


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the least of their problems. 
On the way back towards camp, two of

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the five men succumbed to frostbite,
starvation, and exhaustion.

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The remaining explorers hoped for a
prearranged rendezvous with a team sent

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from their base, but due to a series of
mishaps, misjudgements and

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miscommunications, their rescue
never arrived.

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Their remains, along with Scott’s diary,
would not be found until spring.

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Today, scientists from various countries
live and work at Antarctic

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research stations.
But the journeys of these early

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explorers are not forgotten.
Despite their divergent fates,

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they are forever joined in history,
and in the name of the research

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base that marks the South Pole.