https://www.isegoria.net/2010/06/the-tragic-race-to-be-first-to-the-south-pole/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Fri, 01 May 2026 18:10:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 https://www.isegoria.net/2010/06/the-tragic-race-to-be-first-to-the-south-pole/comment-page-1/#comment-3905 Joseph Fouche Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:03:56 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=6374#comment-3905 Amundsen was the better explorer. When he became the first man to sail through the Northwest passage, he took a smaller boat that could be pulled out of the ice when winter set in. He spent the winter interlude on this expedition learning Arctic survival techniques from the Eskimos. This was the knowledge that allowed him to turn spur of the moment towards Antarctica, get to the pole and back quickly, and beat Scott. Scott was not as ill-prepared as he’s sometimes portrayed. His approach would have worked if the weather had stayed within historic norms for the area. Unfortunately, that was a particularly cold period, it was too cold for his man-drawn sledges to generate friction, and Scott fell short. Amundsen had a more robust plan and better mastery of his environment. And so he won, despite British pluck.

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