Roald Amundsen's South Pole expedition arrived there 105 years ago today

Better logistics, choosing the right animal - dogs, as opposed to ponies, were the difference between conquering Antarctica and losing, and between life and death. 105 years since the arrival of the Norwegian Roald Amundsen to the South Pole, parallel to which a tragedy occurred in the journey of the competitor Robert Scott

Today, 14/12/2016, it was 105 years since the arrival of the expedition led by Roald Amundsen to the South Pole.

Roald Amundsen is considered by the Norwegians to be the last of the Vikings, if only because of his body measurements - his height was over 1.80. Amundsen was born into a family of successful shipowners and merchants in 1872. As a teenager, he insisted on sleeping with the windows open even in the freezing winters of Norway in order to get used to the life of a polar explorer. Amundsen was fascinated by Antarctica from the moment he crash-landed on its frozen terrain in 1897. Antarctica, a continent the size of Europe and Australia combined, has yet to be crossed by humans. Amundsen was destined to be the first.

In 1903, Amundsen made a name for himself as a sailor and explorer when he managed to lead a 21 meter long fishing boat The entire length of the Northwest Passage - a shipping lane full of ice between the Canadian mainland and the Arctic Islands of Canada. It took three years to complete the journey as Amundsen and his crew had to wait for the frozen sea around them to thaw enough for them to move. Immediately after his return to Norway, he learned that the Englishman Ernest Shackleton was about to embark on a journey to reach the South Pole. Shackleton had to abandon his goal about 150 kilometers before the pole. Amundsen studied Shackleton's experience and began the long process of preparing his own expedition. He had organizational and planning skills and was an expert in field trips. He took special measures to ensure that the crew members he would take with him would be fit for a long Antarctic journey. Crew members aboard his ship said he was firm but fair, and affectionately referred to him as the chief.

In August 1910, Amundsen was ready to attempt to reach the South Pole even though the whole world thought he was even preparing to reach the North Pole, but he denied it because the Americans Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had already claimed this feat. Amundsen even kept his plans to establish a South Pole expedition a secret from elements within the Norwegian government. He feared that government officials would hesitate to challenge Britain on whom they were largely dependent. It was only when Amundsen Pram's ship sailed off the coast of Morocco that Amundsen informed the crew that they were on their way to the South Pole, not the North.

An essential element in Amundsen's success in reaching the South Pole were his carefully selected sled dogs. The dogs were equipped, thanks to hundreds of years of natural selection, with the features necessary for survival in the Arctic region. He referred to them as "our children". "The dogs are the most important thing for us. The entire outcome of the expedition depends on them." Wrote.

On October 18, 1911, their ship docked in the Bay of Whales, on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica on the way to the final destination - the Pole. His British colleague Robert Scott who was assisted by Siberian ponies rather than dogs began his journey three weeks later. Thanks to good weather conditions, Amundsen's expedition managed to reach the point where Shackleton was forced to return on December 7. A week later, on December 14, 1911, Amundsen hoisted the Norwegian flag at the South Pole and gave the place the name Polheim - Pole House but also Polish House. He and his crew returned to their home base on January 25, 1912, 99 days and nearly 3,000 kilometers after their departure. Along the way, Amundsen and his team skied across the frozen Ross Sea for nearly two months, climbed high mountains to the 3,000-meter Antarctic Plateau, and crossed snowfields to reach the Pole. During their preparations they placed several food and supply facilities along parts of the road before the final departure towards the Pole. When they got there they devoted three days to scientific measurements and started the journey back home.

The journey of the competitor Robert Scott ended in tragedy, due to difficult weather conditions on the route they chose. From December 4 to 8, 1911, Scott and his crew were confined to their tents and had to await the end of a series of blizzards. While eating their expensive dishes they were late. By the time Scott's expedition reached the Pole on January 17, 1912, the Norwegians had come and gone. Scott's journal entries: "It is a terrible and terrible place I have labored to reach without the reward of precedence." Scott and his men had lost critical time to reach the pole and now faced the bleak future on the way back to bases during the increasingly frigid Antarctic autumn that meant the journey was incomplete. On March 29, 1912, after blizzards and temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees Celsius, Scott crawled into the tent with the two survivors and wrote his last words: For God's sake, look for our men." Eight months later, a search expedition found the frozen bodies of Scott and his men, only 18 kilometers from the food and fuel depot they had left behind on the way to the Pole.

Experts agree that Amundsen's success was due to the fact that he was more prepared than Scott. Amundsen used dog-drawn ski sleds while Scott moved in motorized sleds that soon broke down and on ponies that could not stand the cold. In the end the members of the delegation had to drag the sleds themselves. Amundsen's well-marked warehouses contained over three tons of supplies, while Scott's few and less visible warehouses were difficult to locate due to the blizzards and cold.

Roald Amundsen continued to participate in adventure expeditions to the frozen regions, including a flight over the North Pole in an airship. However, the Arctic region also claimed his life in the end. While participating in a rescue mission in 1928, Amnodsen was killed when his plane crashed into the Arctic Ocean. Shortly before, in a conversation with Eitnoi about his love for the Arctic ice, Amundsen said: "If you only knew how amazing it is there, this is where I would like to die."