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

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

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He’d even received the blessing of[br]the famed explorer Fridtjof Nansen,

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along with the use of his ship, Fram, [br]specially constructed to withstand the ice.

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Now, with the voyage departing, he had [br]one final announcement to his shipmates:

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They were going to head in the[br]opposite direction.

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By the early 20th century,

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nearly every region of the globe had[br]been visited and mapped,

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with only two key locations[br]remaining:

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the North Pole, deep in the[br]frozen waters of the Arctic region,

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and the South Pole, nestled within a[br]recently discovered icy continent

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in the vast Antarctic Ocean.

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A veteran of several expeditions, [br]

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Amundsen had long dreamed of[br]reaching the North Pole.

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But in 1909, amidst his preparations,

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news came that the American explorers[br]Frederick Cook and Robert Peary

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had staked rival claims[br]to the achievement.

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Instead of abandoning the planned voyage,

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

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

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

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

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Melbourne in 1910, he was greeted[br]with the news that Amundsen

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was also heading south.

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Reluctantly, Scott found himself pitted

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

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Yet if it was a race,[br]it was a strange one.

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

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very different plans for the journey.[br]

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Amundsen was focused solely[br]on reaching the Pole.

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Informed by his Arctic exploration, he drew[br]on both Inuit and Norwegian experience,[br]

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arriving with a small team of[br]men and more than a hundred dogs.[br]

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His explorers were clothed[br]in sealskin and furs,

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as well as specially[br]designed skis and boots.

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

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

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alongside over 30 dogs, 19 Siberian [br]ponies,

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and three state-of-the-art[br]motorized sledges.

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But these additional tools and bodies

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

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

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motor-sledges ineffective[br]in the harsh ice and snow.

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In the spring of 1911, after waiting out[br]the long polar night,

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both parties began the journey south. [br]

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Scott’s team traveled [br]over the Beardmore Glacier,

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following the path of Ernest Shackleton's[br]earlier attempt to reach the pole.

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But although this course had been[br]documented, it proved slow and laborious.

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Meanwhile, despite an initial false start,

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Amundsen’s five-man team made good time[br]using a previously uncharted route

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through the same Transantarctic Mountains.[br]

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They stayed ahead of Scott’s team,

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

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

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

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

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

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But when Scott’s party finally reached[br]the pole,

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losing the ‘race’ was[br]the least of their problems. [br]

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On the way back towards the camp,[br]two of the five men succumbed to frostbite

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starvation, and exhaustion.

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The remaining explorers hoped for a[br]prearranged rendezvous with a team sent

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

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miscommunications, their rescue[br]never arrived.

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

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Today, scientists from various countries[br]

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live and work at Antarctic [br]research stations.

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But the journeys of these early[br]explorers are not forgotten.

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Despite their divergent fates,[br]they are forever joined in history,[br]

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and in the name of the research[br]base that marks the South Pole.