I have always had an interest in the great explorers and adventurers and in my aCairdmic years studying history I have often read and learnt about these great people. As a child in Britain learning about the great explorers and adventurers of the Polar Regions is that it was always the Scott vs. Amundsen great race to the South Pole that took precedence over any other expedition.
Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen below:
It was nice to realize once we had started to sail that it was in fact 100 years since that great race and Amundsen’s achievement in reaching the South Pole first and also the later sad deaths of the Scott Party. It was also great news to learn that the day of the anniversary would be the day we first set foot on the Antarctic continent which was a fitting way to remember the great day.
So on the 14th December we arrived at Cuverville Island and had the opportunity to climb the islands peak at 800ft (photo below). We did the climb in about 45mins, but as we were climbing I could not help but think about the conditions for such a journey 100 years ago on sled across the most hostile and barren wilderness in the world, we struggled in the summer up a relatively small snowy hill, imagine the terrain and conditions for Scott and Amundsen!? One word describes them – legends.
