This Day in History: Amundsen reaches South Pole

On 14 December 1911 Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott.
One of the great figures in polar exploration, Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was 25 years of age when he became first mate of the first ever expedition to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he was also the first navigator to make the journey through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast in the 47-ton sloop Gjöa.
Amundsen planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat. In June 1910 he sailed instead for Antarctica, where the English explorer Robert F. Scott was also headed with the aim of reaching the South Pole
In October, both explorers set off – Amundsen using sleigh dogs, and Scott employing Siberian motor sledges, Siberian ponies, and dogs. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen’s expedition won the race to the Pole and returned safely to base camp in late January.
Scott’s expedition was less fortunate. The motor sleds broke down, the ponies had to be shot, and the dog teams were sent back as Scott and four companions continued on foot. On January 18, 1912, they reached the pole only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by over a month. Weather on the return journey was exceptionally bad – two members perished – and a storm later trapped Scott and the other two survivors in their tent only 11 miles from their base camp. Scott’s frozen body was found later that year.
In 1928, Amundsen lost his life while trying to rescue a fellow explorer whose dirigible had crashed at sea near Spitsbergen, Norway.