In the 20th century, there was only one last point left on Earth that had not been conquered by humans, and that was the South Pole. Many teams have tried and failed.
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In 1910, two teams led by The Norwegian Amundsen and the Englishman Scott competed for the feat. At that time, Amundsen's goal was to conquer the North Pole, but when he heard that the North Pole had been landed first, he turned his target to the last virgin place on earth, the South Pole, but he did not tell the people on the ship the plan to change the target, and by this time, Scott had already set off two months before him.
Amundsen
Scott
Amundsen's ship sailed south from Norway because there was no Panama Canal at the time, and ships had to bypass Cape Hoa in South America to travel toward the Bering Strait leading to the Arctic, so this seemingly contradictory behavior did not arouse the suspicion of others. It was not until the ship reached the Madeira Islands off northwest Africa that Amundsen told everyone the truth, and everyone expressed great willingness to go. Amundsen then landed on a recent coast and sent Scott a telegram informing him that he himself would also be heading to Antarctica.
By the time Amundsen reached the edge of the Antarctic continent, Scott was already camped and ready to set out for the South Pole. Scott's crew suddenly spotted a ship while surveying the coastline and went to visit Amundsen. As they were leaving, Amundsen said mysteriously, "Please tell Mr. Scott, I will leave him a letter." No one knew what that meant.
Roadmap for both teams. Red is the Amundsen team and green is Scott team
Scott was in trouble on the fourth day of departure, and the snowmobile's fuel tank was completely frozen to death in the freezing cold and could not be used. Supplies had to be transferred to the Siberian ponies. The ponies' relatively poor hardiness and unaccustomed to the harsh environment of the Antarctic plateau, coupled with heavy loads, eventually fell down one after another. The team members could only put equipment and supplies on the sleigh, relying on the drag of manpower, and struggled on the ice field of the gully.
In fact, as early as 8 years ago, Scott had been to Antarctica, and he used a husky dog to pull a sled. He believes that the high intake of food in huskies will cause a large consumption of supplies. So this time, he chose a large number of robust and thirst-resistant purebred Siberian ponies, with only a small number of Huskymos. And because the team members could not skillfully drive the huskies, there was a situation where people pulled the dogs.
By this time, the Amundsen expedition had far surpassed them and was heading toward the Pole of Antarctica at a speed they could not have imagined. In this cold condition, nature treats everyone equally, and Amundsen has also encountered many difficulties, but because he spent two winters in the Arctic and learned a lot of polar knowledge with the Eskimos, he knows very well that the Huskies are the most important means of transportation for the polar inhabitants, and their thick fur, amazing hardiness, loyal and strong character, and reliable work ability are undoubtedly reliable partners in Amundsen's view. So this time he only brought a large number of huskies and four sleds.
About 700 kilometers ahead, Amundsen's team wore Eskimo fur coats and rode on dog-pulled sleds and snowboards, maintaining an average daily speed of 30 kilometers. The second half of the journey is mainly climbing over the mountains, although encountering many high mountains, deep valleys, ice cracks and other dangerous obstacles, but due to the preparation in advance, coupled with the good mobility of the huskies, they are not fatally hindered.
On December 14, 1911, after a long period of difficulties, Amundsen's team finally reached the South Pole, where the Norwegian flag was planted. They became the first people in the world to reach the South Pole.
Amundsen stayed there for three days, conducting some observational studies, and left on December 17 with his team and the remaining 18 Huskies, leaving Scott with his own surplus supplies in the tent, as well as a letter to King Haakon, instructing Scott to hand it over on his behalf. Because he didn't know if he would be able to go back alive, he wanted to use it as a testimony.
Amundsen's letter to Scott and the King
On January 25, 1912, All five of Amundsen's party returned to camp.
Scott didn't arrive until 5 weeks after Amundsen left. When he arrived at the South Pole, he found Amundsen's flag and tent and saw the letter Amundsen had left for him. His dream was shattered. Conditions at that time did not allow them to stay too long, so soon they returned. However, they were not so lucky, and two members of the team fell one after another on the way back. The remaining three caught up with a snowstorm 17 kilometres from the next supply depot and had to camp, which lasted for more than a week and more, leaving them unable to leave their tents, with no supplies at all. Finally, they slipped into their sleeping bags to welcome the arrival of death. Scott wrote in his final diary: "We are taking risks, and we know we are taking risks. Unfortunately, the weather is not as good as it should be, so we will follow God's will, and there is nothing to complain about, and we will persevere until the end. But we are getting weaker and weaker, and the end is not far away. It's a pity to say, but I'm afraid I can't keep a diary anymore. He signed it with a stiff disobedient hand and added at the end: "Look at god's face, please take care of my family." His last wish was: "Please give this diary to my wife." Then "my wife" was crossed out and replaced with "my widow." The remains of their group and their diaries were not discovered until November 1912.
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Regarding Scott's failed return trip, many believe that his decision-making mistakes led him and his 4 teammates to pull the equipment in a sleigh and trek 1450 kilometers on the way to the Antarctic expedition before finally embarking on The Yellow Springs Road. Later atmospheric researcher Susan Solomon still believes that cold weather is the culprit. Her reasoning was that the winter, the week-long minimum temperature of -37 °C was much colder than usual. She compared the information in Scott's diary with data collected over the past 17 years at the Antarctic Automatic Weather Station, some of which were collected at locations just a few kilometers from Scott's expedition route. The data displayed by the automatic weather station showed that in the years that followed, only the temperature of 1988 was similar to that year's temperature, and the duration was also comparable.
However, this statement is very one-sided. After all, it is a very difficult thing to conquer Antarctica, and success is not explained by one reason alone, but needs to be considered in many ways.
Amundsen played for 2 months than Scott, and when he reached the edge of the Antarctic continent, Scott had just set up camp, which inferred that Scott must have had a problem during the voyage. Scott then left camp a few days later than Amundsen.
Amundsen correctly chose the Arctic Huskies as the main driving force for the sled, while Scott mistakenly chose Siberian ponies and a small number of Huskies. It turned out that the Siberian ponies were overwhelmed by the polar climate of Antarctica, and then died in large numbers, causing great difficulties for their travels, thus entering a difficult situation where only people could pull sleds. Later, two teams were tested on the Greenland continent according to the equipment of the two teams at that time, and the final success was still amundsen's equipment.
Amundsen wears fur, which he learned from the Eskimos.
Amundsen takes 4 people and three sleds, each equipped with 6 dogs. Lunch was also thoughtfully arranged, he used a newly designed thermos bottle, every day after breakfast, put hot meals into the thermos so that lunch can be eaten at any time; and Scott had to camp to make a fire, and a lunch was delayed a lot.
Amundsen's own base camp was more than a hundred kilometers from the South Pole than Scott's team, and Amundsen had a supply station at 80°, 81°, and 82° south latitude, storing sufficient supplies; Scott wasted a lot of time setting up the supply station, and originally he planned to set up a supply station at 80 degrees south latitude, but later changed it to 79° 27′ south latitude, 67 kilometers north of the original target. Many also believe that this is the most fatal cause of his total annihilation, if the supply station is located at 80 degrees south latitude, they can avoid the 9-day long snowstorm on the way back.
Another point, I don't think Scott should carry those devices. Because this is his first time to go to Antarctica, the road is already dangerous, your purpose is to be the "first person in Antarctica", carrying so much equipment is a drag. If you want to do scientific research, you should wait until the first success, the experience is there, the road is familiar, and it is not too late to go again for the second time.
For a variety of reasons, Scott wasn't prepared enough, not unlucky. Even if it was good luck, it was left to those who were prepared, and although Amundsen changed his plans to go to Antarctica on an ad hoc basis, he was fully prepared, and amazingly, his return date was exactly the same day as he had planned before, enough to see that he was carefully arranged. If Scott had been like Amundsen, he wouldn't have been able to catch up with that snowstorm.