Roald Amundsen

A Norwegian party of five led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, travelling with sled dogs. British explorer Robert Falcon Scott's team arrived on 17 January 1912 and found the Norwegian tent already there.

Scott's party died on the return march. The Pole sits on a moving ice sheet, so the exact spot reached in 1911 is only approximate.

Context

Amundsen's party consisted of Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting. They set up base at the Bay of Whales, which put them closer to the Pole than Scott's base at McMurdo Sound, and used skis and dog teams, killing some dogs along the way to feed the others.

Scott's British Terra Nova expedition used a mix of ponies, motor sledges and dogs, but much of the journey ended up being hauled by the men themselves. After reaching the Pole on 17 January 1912, all five men of the polar party died on the return trip, victims of cold, hunger and exhaustion, and their bodies were found in November 1912.

The calendar date of Amundsen's arrival is sometimes given as 13 or 14 December in different sources because of how the party kept its days and times. The Pole itself lies on an ice sheet that slowly moves, so the station sited there today is in a different place from the 1911 camp.