Captain Scott Versus Roald Amundsen: Which Kind of Explorer Are You?
Captain Robert Falcon Scott would have shed a tear, but the tear would have ripped his cornea. In the sub-zero temperatures of the South Pole, a solitary tear could instantly freeze, morphing into a razor. The British Captain was staring at the Norwegian flag, which seemed to be cackling at him. The flag proudly snapped and cracked in the gale force winds. For months, he had been making his plans to be the first human being to reach The South Pole. Nine years prior (1905) Scott had been the man to spot a plateau presumed to be the South Pole. But here he stood and his competitor — a Norwegian man named Roald Amundsen — had beaten him.
Bitterly, Scott turned his body to face the north. A dread rushed over him as he acknowledged his teams’ plight. He had led them 700 miles into the Great White Unknown. They were exhausted from man-hauling their sleds more than 500 miles. He had made the mistake of investing in the first mechanized ice-sleds, which had promptly broken down upon entering the sub-zero temperatures. Scott had been told they were designed to operate in such conditions and would make the journey easier. But no man or man’s machine had ever been thoroughly tested in the South pole. Their ponies, too, had died early, and so the team was forced to pull their own sleds, which were loaded with all their supplies. Scott had brought one ton of supplies for seventeen men. This on the assumption that he could locate the supply depots along the way. But in the snow blizzard he had missed several depots in succession.
Nonetheless, as an experienced adventurer, he set out to work. They would immediately begin the long haul back to base camp.
Already more than halfway back home, Roald Amundsen appeared the polar opposite to Scott. Amundsen had reached their common goal, The South Pole, on December 15th, 1911; whereas Scott reached it January 17th, 1912.
By January 25th Amundsen would be safe at home.
He had made the mistake of investing in the first mechanized ice-sleds, which had promptly broken down upon entering the sub-zero temperatures.
After several hundred miles of man hauling, Scott’s team ran out of supplies. He stalled mid-march, exhausted and depressed. Eight months later, a British reconnaissance party found the frozen bodies of Scott and two companions in a forlorn snow-drifted little tent, ten miles short of his supply depot.
In preparing for the South Pole expedition, many men had called Amundsen insane. Not for his goal, but for his intense discipline and preparation. He had apprenticed with Eskimos in order to discover how they thrived in extreme cold. He learned how to move slowly as they did, so he would not sweat. Sweat was the enemy, for it freezes and causes pain. He wore loose clothing after the fashion of Eskimos, so the sweat would evaporate. He chose to work with sled dogs rather than ponies, because ponies sweat and become encased in ice. When approached by a representative for the new motor sleds, Amundsen turned them down cold. He knew the motorized sleds could not possibly be thoroughly tested in the extreme South Pole conditions. A place where no one had as yet ventured.
Most impressively were Amundsen’s preparations. Whereas Scott was cutting it close with his supplies — even missing one depot could lead to disaster — Amundsen had three tons of supplies for five men. He could have missed every supply depot and still had enough supplies to go an extra 100 miles. But he wouldn’t miss supply depots. When he had established his depots, he strategically placed black flags in locations he could see were he to get lost in the snow.
In physical training Amundsen had prepared like a maniac. He took every opportunity to push his limits past the extreme. HIs philosophy of life and adventure was “you don’t wait until you’re in an unexpected storm to discover that you need more strength and endurance.”
In his twenties Amundsen made a trek from Norway to Spain. Rather than take a carriage or boat, he bicycled. Venturing on sea voyages he had experimented with eating raw dolphin meat. He assumed a likelihood of a shipwreck, where he would need to know how long he could sustain his energy on dolphin meat alone.
He could have missed every supply depot and still had enough supplies to go an extra 100 miles.
Both men were of similar ages: Amundsen was 39 and Scott 43. Both men had similar adventuring experience. Both men left their base camps at the same time. Both men had the same destination. Both men experienced the same percentage of bad weather days to good: 56%. And yet one man led his team to victory and immortality, while the other to death.
The South Pole acted as a centrifuge. The two men revealed their true characters in this extreme environment. Amundsen had assumed that anything that could go wrong would go wrong. He over prepared in training. He was disciplined in preparation. He brought more supplies than needed. He assumed he would be hit by weather he could not predict (after all no human had ever ventured there). Scott, for instance, did not put black flags around his depots. He assumed he would be able to find them. And whereas Scott brought a single thermometer for a critical altitude measurement device, Amundsen brought five. Scott’s broke and he almost attacked a team member in fury. In every possible and impossible scenario Amundsen was ready for anything. Due to Amundsen’s training and preparation and discipline, he flourished; due to Scott’s lack of both, he died.
Victory waits him who has everything in order — luck people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.
— Roald Amundsen
