Images from Amundsen's 1911 South Pole expedition.
100 years ago today, Roald Amundsen was the first man to set foot on the South Pole – an achievement so groundbreaking, that it is hard to grasp a century later. Years of planning, training and research made it possible for Amundsen to venture into nothingness – with confidence. To conquer this last great unknown – a dessert of ice, hailing winds and temperatures down to minus 90 degrees Celcius – required massive courage as well as a mind so determined that it was only a question of when – rather than if – he would make it there.
100 years after Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, Jørgen Amundsen – the founder of Amundsen Sports and a relative of Roald Amundsen – will set sail from South America, around Cape Horn, through the Drake Passage and on to Antarctica. In Amundsen’s spirit, the mission is to ascend an unclimbed mountian and reach its summit on 14 December 2011. We wish him the best of luck.
Check out this link for a detailed account of the first expedition to the South Pole, and the very interesting video below about his race to the pole against rival Robert F. Scott.
