The South Pole

Roald Amundsen s The South Pole is a detailed even exhaustive account of his successful 1910 1912 expedition to the South Pole Amundsen s expedition was the first to reach the South Pole after failures by other expeditions Amundsen was relentlessly methodical and practical in planning and executing the expedition He identified a practical method of travel for the long haul to the South Pole from the Antarctic coast dog sleds and skiis He and his crew experimented and tested all their equipment and supplies in the Antarctic while patiently waiting for the right weather to travel In striking contrast to his British competitor Robert Falcon Scott Amundsen correctly estimated the amount of food that would be consumed by physically active men operating for weeks in sub zero temperatures His story is one of the greatest tales of this age In this book we hear in his own words the story of that rarest of plans the perfectly executed coup For a coup it was When Amundsen turned from the North Pole to the South after the question of the great nail had been settled by Cook Peary his decision was treated in many sectors most notably by the British Press as underhanded and double dealing Amundens account of the reasoning behind it makes clear that any deceit was necessary to ensure no forestalling of his plans by others not only Scott To ensure the future of his extended plan the drift across the Arctic which was eventually carried out in the Maud he knew the Press Barons would need an exclusive and juicy story The South Pole would give him this currency The book is written in an honest and clean style The hardships faced are almost disguised by the simple tale of their telling To strike up an unknown glacier and forge his way over virgin ground on the way to the polar plateau and the Pole itself displays fortitude and grit we can only marvel at in today s world But Amundsen s description of the task is hidden behind a work a day narrative