On 14 of December 1911, Roald Amundsen and his four men reached the South Pole. Thus, Amundsen, Bjaaland, Hanssen, Hassel and Wisting became the first persons to set their feet on the geographical South Pole.

Written 14 Dec 2007

3619 meters above sea level
Maximum & Minimum temperatures: -20 to -37 °C

In 1911, it was a race to be first reaching the South Pole. Amundsen’s strategy with using dogs to pull the sledges turned out to be superior to ponies and motor sledges used by Scott. Amundsen used 99 days back and forth from his station Framheim at the ice edge in the Ross Sea. The station was named after the polar vessel Fram owned by Fridtjof Nansen and used during the famous drift across the Arctic Ocean in 1893-1896.



One of the dogs that reached the South Pole that day 96 years ago was Amundsen’s favorite dog Lasse, which one of our tracked vehicles is named after. When we reach the South Pole in January, the plan is that our Lasse is pulling in first…

- Jan-Gunnar

Photo caption: The South Pole is reached. From left to right: Amundsen, Hanssen, Hassel and Wisting (Photo: Olav Bjaaland).

This contribution is from the log of the Norwegian-US Scientific Traverse team, who are en route from Troll Station to South Pole Station. Much more information can be found here.