National Geographic Museum Blog

Amundsen prepared the final onslaught for the Pole on December 9th and laid the final depot 90 miles from the South pole. As he reached within sixteen miles of the South Pole, Amundsen began to feel the bitter sweet sensation of any race and knew the winning was well within his grasp. It wasn’t though until 12/15 that Amundsen reach the true pole on a sunny day at 3pm. There they finished the journey and planted their flag in the geographical South Pole.  Scott was 360 miles behind them fighting his way up the Beardmore glacier.

Amundsen was publicly challenged for his authority and the smartness of leaving camp for the Poles before the start of the polar summer. As a result he had to dismiss Johnson (the challenger) from the mission of the South Pole and send him home. Johnson refused to leave the expedition and in the end stayed on. Amundsen refused to speak to him in any capacity and couldn’t dismiss what he considered to be flagrant disloyalty.

“The thought of the English gave him [Amundsen] no peace. For if we were not first at the Pole, we might just as well stay home.”

- Roland Huntford, The Last Place on Earth

Check out this great video on modern day polar explorer Will Steger as he is profiled by the Today Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOxEit-WWU

In Roland Huntford’s nonfiction account of the Race to the End of the Earth, he describes depot journeys as “more than a matter of tactics; they were the very instruments of survival. The manner in which they were launched and carried out, embodied, indeed caricatured, the essential difference between the Norwegian and British expeditions. Amundsen set out with the  matter-of-fact calm of a workday routine. Scott… left ‘in a state of hurry bordering on panic.’ Amundsen was issuing the executive order for an operation prepared months in advance. Scott gave the signal for a stupendous act of improvisation.”

Scott found himself to be moving at half or sometimes even one third of Amundsen’s speed given this caravan nature of travel with multiple types of transit: ponies, dogs and manhauling. The animals were giving them extreme amounts of difficulty; the horses were practically frozen and finding it impossible to eat. Yet, the dogs were often cuddled, warm and happy even in blizzards. Still given this trend, Scott preferred and thought horses were better suited to the tasks at hand.

Amundsen and team were full Netsilik reindeer skin undergarments with a layer of reindeer fur clothing on top of which proved often times too warm while skiing in the Antarctic climate. The biggest problem was boots which turned out to be un-useable in the cold and gave the men blisters. Instead they wore Kamikks which were Eskimo boots made out of sealskin.

On January 15th (10 days after the British at McMurdo Sound), the Norwegians started disembarking in the Bay of Whales. Amundsen’s team worked as a whole with each knowing the overall vision and seeing himself as a part of the whole. They knew the base must be ready by April, seal meat must be laid in for winter, and that three depot journeys must exist if the run to the Pole was to work.

At McMurdo Sound, Scott did not yet know the plan and neither did his troop. As such, they were listless and unsure of how to proceed. All that remained was rigid unquestioning obedience to orders without regard to circumstance.

Take a moment to teach your kids about Antarctica. Have them draw all of these animals and then discuss how two great explorers raced for the South Pole in the turn of the 20th century.

Source: http://www.animal-dino.com/animal_coloring/penguin1.jpg

Join us for a free family workshop that explores the themes of the Etruscans exhibit on August 28 at 1pm at National Geographic Museum. The event is located in the cafeteria at 1600 M St. NW Washington, DC 20036.

Over 2,500 years ago, the Etruscans dominated the Italian peninsula. Yet much of this ancient culture was lost when it was absorbed into the expanding Roman Empire. Scholars have been unfolding the mystery of the Etruscans for hundreds of years by studying the objects they left behind. Their possessions help reconstruct the ancient Etruscan world. They serve as time capsules, left unintentionally, for future generations to understand a vanished people.

Create your own time capsule illustrating you and your world. Using images and words from magazines and newspapers, build a collage that represents who you are and what’s important to you. How will future generations interpret what you’ve left behind? How will you be understood 2,500 years from now?

Registration required; email natgeomuseum[at]ngs.org to register.