Maybe saying that if anyone wins outside the US they'll have to pay their own taxes and delivery costs would be a good thing to add to the advert part. Doesn't make it not worth entering but it'd be better to be upfront about all the costs.
It should be noted that Amundsen had lived for almost two years with the indigenous people of northern Canada when he traversed the Northwest Passage and learned how to survive in the arctic. This was skills that he put to very good use in 1911. Fun Fact: there was another race to the South Pole in 2009 and the British actually managed to survive this time. And placed second. Behind a Norwegian team.
Amundsen also knew the dietary needs of such a dry, hostile environment, and perfected a kind of pemmican rich in legumes for regularity. The dogs could eat the human excrement, as their digestive tracts could extract the fats and whatnot that humans rejected. They kept the ship clean that way, too.
Captain Scott did several mistakes, one was using horses to drag sleds, another was adding a fifth expeditionary when provisions had been prepared for only four, and one was ordered to go on foot instead of on skis, another was wasting time carrying stones for geological studies. In my opinion, since I did not want to use dogs so as not to "enslave dogs", having used Mongolian camels, they are camels adapted to cold and snow, which can easily withstand minus 40 degrees Celsius, which can be without food for three months, and if they need water they get it by eating ice or snow. These camels should also be protected with vests and boots. And the camels go towing mixed sleds or carts with wide wheels, and the British go mounted on camels or sleds. an alternative was to have trained polar bears (put muzzles on all of them), and the same thing, the British expeditionaries would ride on them, as if the bears were horses, and these animals drag sledges or carts full of meat and seal fat
Just makes me think of when the British tried to design a world class infantry rifle, fumbled, hurt themselves and ultimately left it to the Germans to fix it
Amundsen gave Scott good advice before the expedition: 1: Ditch those cotton parkas for wolf fur coats as arctic wolf fur is heavier, but is best for keeping warm and it dries off faster than cloth. 2: Those experimental 1911 automotive tractors will break down and to use sleds (sledges) pulled by Greenland dogs instead (plus, you can eat the dogs when the food supplies get low). 3: Those poor Siberian ponies in the Scott expedition are going to die really fast. Again, Greenland dogs last longer. 4: Timing is vital! Start as soon as possible to return before winter sets in. Amundsen jumped the gun, started too early and had to return to base camp because winter weather as still too severe. The Norwegians still started 11 days before Scott at a base 96 km (52 NM) closer to the South Pole than Scott's base. Amundsen made a round-trip of approx. 3440 km (1857 NM) and returned before winter again arrived with no casualties. Scott's expedition suffered terrible delays with the motor sledges breaking down, the ponies and dogs dying, they had to pull their sleds by skiing, and they were trapped in a winter blizzard 11 Nm (18 km) short of One Ton Depot at 79° 29' S where they died.
Don't forget also that Scott refused to march the ponies (that died anyway) to their deaths in order to bring One Ton depot closer to the pole. Had it been 10° latitude further south, they likely would've survived
it was Nansen, I believe, who tried to inject some sense into Captain Scott. To little avail. Other than that, the point stands,... As you might recall, the Norwegians left a TON of food and a lot of petrol cans on the ice and snow,.. Indeed Amundsen was plaged by guilt for the remainder of his life,... that he didn't leave a can of fuel and possibly other essensial supples for Scott on the pole..... Mind you, they ran out of fuel, too, the English....
I watched Vox's short documentary about this, basically, Scott and his team experienced an anomaly that year when it comes to the weather. That year, it dropped earlier than the previous years.
“For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.” Three different heroes of the Golden Age of Discovery. Amundsen was all about being well prepared, and NO room for feelings. Just pure professionalism!
Frank Worsley to me is why Shackleton is remembered the way he is. Worsley in my opinion is the hero of that story of hope. Then again he could have been just the perfect number 2 who respected the leader, while the men follow and respect him so they follow along more so of respecting the leader. I feel he and Roald get low balled for the skills they possessed.
What gave me a real insight into the race to the pole, is reading excerpts from both Scott’s and Amundsen’s expedition diaries. Scott’s reads like an unending tale of woe whereas Amundsen’s reads like a bunch of Scandinavian lads having a fine old time out on a cross country skiing trip. Psychologically speaking the Norwegians had already made it to the pole before they even set foot on the ice. For me though, the greatest tale of Antarctic exploration is the Shackleton expedition in the Endurance. The entire story is utterly eye-popping, in fact if it was written as fiction people would say it was BS. Shackleton was a true leader and an absolute legend…
@@bobfg3130 Bad luck!? Its fairly obvious that he failed because of poor planning and lack of experience. If you allow for 'bad luck' in an expedition like this, that alone makes you an amateur.
@@jandmath Yes, bad luck. That year the temperatures were far lower than usual. Shackleton failed too for the same reasons. The only reason why he managed to save his crew was because the temperatures were not unusually low.
@@bobfg3130 just ridiculous mate, the temperature was lower for the Norwegian expedition too. In any case you wilfully ignore all the other issues. 5 when planning was for 4,depots too far apart, horses and machines instead of dogs, abandoned skis!!!! In favour of walking. There is more but that's enough, a cock up from beginning to inevitable end.
@@antipropo461 It's nothing ridiculous. I guess context is a bit hard to read. This is about Shackleton vs Scott. They've BOTH failed. The main difference was that Scott had far lower temperatures to contend with. That's what made the difference. Scott and his team died because of bad luck.
Amudsen did not head to New Zealand to broadcast his success, he went to Tasmania. There he sent telegrams from the GPO at Hobart. Due to quarantine he left his remaining dogs (huskies) in Tasmania where they went on to form the breeding stock for Australian Antarctic expeditions for decades. The last were returned to Hobart and most were adopted by polar veterans as pets.
@@MrTruehoustonian Oh just try and tell me with a straight face that ancient aliens isn't hilarious. (Seriously though, I miss when they had shows about nazis and cavemen and rennaisance astronomy and...)
@@GleichUmDieEcke I didn't say they weren't entertaining but shows like that showed the history channel was circling the toilet drain and I love history it was so disappointing. hehe fucking nazis alien hybrids that can time travel
Like a history channel show *without the 15 minutes of repeating themselves everytime you return from a commercial break. I loved watching those shows growing up but they were 25 minutes of content, 20 minutes of recap, and 15 minutes of commercials
You forgot that Amundsen & his men ate some of the dogs during the journey because he knew that the fresh meat would provide some vitamin C to ward off the dreaded scurvy. Also, he needed to carry less food because the food would carry itself.
Huskies, in this case, and dogs overall don't sweat they pant to cool down together with their thick coats, making the dogs ideal dog sleders. In contrast, ponies are thin-skinned and do sweat like humans meaning less body heat and fast you lose body heat more likely you are to die in Arctic conditions.
2:20 - Chapter 1 - The south pole 3:20 - Chapter 2 - Early adventures 5:35 - Chapter 3 - The 2 teams 6:50 - Chapter 4 - Amundsen's south pole expedition 7:45 - Chapter 5 - Terra nova expedition 8:35 - Chapter 6 - Base camps 10:30 - Chapter 7 - Preparations 12:15 - Chapter 8 - Race to the pole 13:45 - Chapter 9 - Victory & death 16:50 - Chapter 10 - Telling the world
"It is an awful place"... truer words were never spoken.... so sad.... imagine if the teams had traveled together.... a triumphant victorious feat for all... a shared victory is better than what transpired, surely!!
Read about this years ago in one of my books on exploration. The heaviest part was the full page "selfie" they took at the poll. You can see the trip wire the camera man used to take the shot, and in their faces you can see every man knows he's dead. Gives me the shivers every time I open the book.
Have you seen the other exposures they took at the same time? There’s one blurry one where they’re all cracking up despite the ordeal they just went through
When I was a teenager I was weirdly obsessed with the South Pole expeditions, I had a book full of amazing photos and Amundsen posing with his parka, solemn and determined stuck with me.
This is my story...somewhat. I have been obssessed with their story since the mid 80's. My kids are tired of me telling them about Amundsen and Robert F. Scott.
As a Canadian the coldest temperature I have ever experienced was -40 with the wind chill. That was so otherworldly and unbearable, I simply lack the capacity to even be able to conceive of -56.
When I deployed to Afghanistan we traveled through Kyrgyzstan in January. It was normally -15 F at night. One night it dropped to -30 and we had to stay overnight at the cafeteria. They said we'd be dead if we tried to make the 10 minute walk back to our barracks.
@@evepayler1461 Taking nothing away from Amundsen or Scott, but Shackleton's "failed" expedition is much more impressive. It's incredible that he didn't lose a single man and his team was away from Britain for YEARS. (It's also sadder that many of the survivors had to fight in WWI upon returning home, and not all of them made it back.)
Simon, you’re one of the best on RUclips. If I can offer a suggestion, the constant conversions are distracting and unnecessary. Just pick one and leave it to the viewer to convert! Really only take a a second on a smartphone.
Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott. The three titans of Antarctic exploration. Sir Raymond Priestly (who served under both Shackleton and Scott) gave his impression of the three: "For scientific leadership, give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen. But when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton. Incomparable in adversity, he was the miracle worker who would save your life against all the odds and long after your number was up. The greatest leader that ever came on God’s earth, bar none."
The scientist that did the weather investigation in the years leading up to the expedition gave the predicted weather for the next season and roughly when and how the winter winds set in. Sadly Antarctica has a proven cycle of weather that once every 12 or so years it has a weather event where winter sets in 4-6 weeks early. This is a key factor in what slowed down the expedition on its return trip. Thinking they had 6 weeks of 'good' weather when in fact they didn't and all the fresh winter snow dragged on the sleds. So if they had gone the year before or the year after with the same plan its very probable they would have succeeded. Just commenting this as its a very little known fact that did add to the demise of the expedition.
It's often the smallest details that count the most such as: Amundsen & his men ate some of the dogs because he knew that the fresh meat would provide some vitamin C to prevent scurvy that plagued Scott & his men. And he knew that in super cold conditions the oil burnt for cooking would weep out of its container so he had them all soldered shut. Scott never figured out the problem of the missing oil & he & his men suffered greatly because of this small detail.
Terra Nova Expedition is one of my favorite stories ever. The entire expedition not just the South Pole dash. It's an incredible collection of colorful characters. It's like they did everything to provide material for a smashing film in the future. Great explorers just like Amundsen, Shackleton, Mawson and their crews. No reason to put down someone to elevate others (a lot of lies have been said about Terra Nova expediton to make it look worse). It's not like the North Pole exploration where three first claims were fraudulent and you had people like Robert Peary who was a genuinely evil person.
In the very end of 1985, I moved from San Francisco to Nenana, Alaska. Several months after I moved there, I was hanging out with the son of Gerry Riley, a dog musher, at their home and this older man was visiting. I had no idea who he was but I immediately got the sense that he was very interesting and I recall he was talking with Gerry about doing the Yukon Quest dog sled race. I didn’t find out until several years later that it was Colonel Norman Vaughn; a famous dog musher who continued to mush into his elderly years, including the Iditarod. But what he’s most famous for is being the dog mushing expert on Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole as a young man. He was essentially what made the expedition successful. Unfortunately he died before his planned climb of Mt. Vaughn, the mountain named after him, in Antarctica on his 80th birthday. I feel lucky to have met someone so incredible; even if I didn’t know who he was at the time.
I saw his photo once but it was from the 90s and it mentioned the mountain too. And it turns out he did climb it in 1994 when he was 88 but died before he was able to repeat it at age 100.
@@HieMan-g1n He had a double knee replacement in 2001. I watched him all summer 2001 in the gym go from exercise to exercise on crutches absolutely intent that he was going to climb his mountain one last time. In my 40s now. Anytime I feel like my body wont let me and I want to quit I can just remember Vaughn in the gym and it inspires me to work through it.
You didn’t mention the reason the brits didn’t use dogs was their aversion to eating them. The Norwegians would use them as food at certain points when they needed fewer due to supplies being used and the sleds weighing less. The brits planned on using the pony’s this way, but pony’s don’t do well in that environment. They died before they could use them to eat. This is the reason they completed the trek and were first.
If that is why we lost, so be it. We do NOT eat dogs. Besides, we invented the jet engine a bit later on, NOT the Norwegians, so we all can fly there now if we so wish.
@@TheSpaceBrosShow But nowhere CLOSE to the amount of salt produced by @UrinatingTree when the Cleveland Brown beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs last year.
Simon has 193 youtube channels so does sometimes get his mega and side projects mixed up....not on this occasion. A truly epic paragraph in the human story.
Although Scott tragedy is well known, people tend to forget Ernest Shackleton Endurance debacle and final triumph. He did not lose a single man for 3 years. He’s epic journey in two boats to elephant Island and then to the wrong side of South Georgia is epic, not counting the cross land journey through the South Georgia wilderness to the only whaling station available for rescue. This epic journey should also be object of your attention.
Shackleton didn’t lose any of the men from the Endurance. But Capt Mackintosh of the Aurora and another officer died (they were the party that laid depots along the Ross Ice Shelf for the second leg of the Trans Antarctic Expedition after Shackleton and the landing party planned to use upon leaving the pole)
One thing I noticed that was not mentioned is on Shackleton's return from his journey south, he went on tour and giving lectures on the conditions of the inner Antarctic ice shelf. Because Scott hated Shackleton, he refused to take any notice of the information gathered however a little-known Norwegian at the time by the name of Amundson took everything he could in assisting his future expedition.
Profound sum-up, Simon. You state with dignity the evolution from 'noble heroism' views to a clearer study of British-team errors. Also vital: Amundsen chose his team by not protocol but specialized ability, and had learned from Indigenous people re clothing and comfort with dogs.
Also, the Model X has the Falcon doors. The Model S has standard doors. There are no x-wing doors Is Danny sending out signals via errors in the copy that he needs help escaping from Simon's basement?
Being Norwegian, I will still salute Scott and his team... but, a greater fool sadly...England never had. A good thing I would say. Chivalry and honor. Great vid!
Getting to the pole and seeing that Norwegian flag must have been soul breaking but I'll bet Scott would be the first to congratulate Amundsen on a job well done
Amundsen was focused on one goal and everything that he did was in service to that. Scott, on the other hand had muddled aims and couldn't decide if he was on a scientific expedition or in a race. on their way back from the Pole, they even wasted a day performing experiments and were hauling back a big pile of rocks on their sledges when they died. the lesson to be drawn is quite clear. people love a tale of tragedy and Scott's story is certainly fascinating, but Amundsen provided a template of success in the most perilous of environments
Even today it's a bad idea to try operating a land vehicle in frigid temperature for that far of a distance cause so many things can break. I'm surprised Scott almost made it back with what he had.
In the biography it is stated that only two men knew the secret mission (prior to landing on Madeira) of the Amundsen expedition, Amundsen himself and his brother in Norway.
Initially Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole wasn't the original plan, Norway's most famous Arctic explorer at the time Fridtjof Nansen wanted Amundsen to use his ship Fram to explore and research the Arctic currents and their affects on the global climate. But because of American Frederick Cook's claim of reaching the North Pole in 1910, the plan was changed to the South Pole.
Amundsens effort was not swashbuckling adventure. He were there to accomplish task and to win. He was within his and his teams prior experience all the time. In all fairness Norwegians had gigantic advantage on their knowledge on winter survival in extreme conditions. Norwegians used fur clothing. They knew only dogs can work well in such cold enviroment, and sledge dogs are beasts of burden, not pets. He did reach the pole in time to escape the cold spell that doomed Scott and his compatriots. Scott did thou forever made people to remember also Roald Amundsen. British sportsman like Scott had near zero chances against semi-pros like Norwegians were.
I know I’m late but I’d love to see Simon make a video on the Winter Journey. 3 members of the Terra Nova expedition walked 60 miles through the Antarctic winter to collect penguin eggs; it’s an insane story and I’m amazed nobody died during that part
Correct but not as you think -26 is cold in pretty much all places in Norway. However Amundsen spent years with the Inuits learning most of their tricks including dog sleds who was never used seriously in Norway
🇬🇧 United Kingdom with Robert Falcon Scott 🇳🇴 and Norway with Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen. They both found the Antarctic pole, furthest south in the world. Thus exists now the United States 🇺🇸 Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The heroism of such people will not be forgotten.
@@ghosthound17 Yep, at McMurdo Station. Technically, there are two of them, but the second is never in use; it's there in case they need to cannibalize it for spare parts. Wells Fargo provided them, and a technician goes down to do preventive maintenance every couple of years. Wells Fargo doesn't restock it with cash from outside; somehow the money used down there "recirculates", but I've never seen an explanation of exactly how that's handled.
I'm not sure if if this is true, but a British adventurer and actor called Brian Blessed, likes to tell a story that Amundsen, upon hearing the new that Scott's expedition had resulted in his team's death exclaimed "Scott has beaten me". He realised that the tragedy would overshadow his team's achievement.
When I was in middle school we had a visit from Peter Scott who was born after the expedition left England and so he never met his father. Of course Peter was a world renowned ornithologist, I think I still have the book he signed.
@@abbaszaidi8371 of course Endurance, or what the official expedition's title. Nimrod would be covered as I think it led to him leading the crew of The Endurance. It's a more harrowing story though, and just tells of how incredibly intelligent and badass he was. Pulled a dude from the water with one arm a la Cap. America, navigates three (open cockpit?) vessels off the shelf to an island, then takes off to South Georgia in one, lands and then traverses the island (I imagine the cliffs of insanity)...with rope being the only 'safety' gear to get to a whaling station to get a vessel to go rescue his still surviving crew....all of them. Yeah, I think that one should get covered.
thumbs up before even watching because this is one of my favourite stories. Idea for a sideproject or biographics/geographics vid: the Endurance expedition
Scott had outfitted his men with non-breathing wool-cotton clothing. The men froze when they stopped work=-as the sweat inside froze. Amundsen outfitted his men with Inuit fur clothing-which allowed the men's sweat to evaporate. In addition, they had plenty of fresh seal meat-while Scott's men were eating processed foods which had no Vitamin C-Scott's expedition doctor noted that the men were already suffering from scurvey by the time they left for the pole.
When I started watching this video, I thought you guys had made a pretty basic mistake. However, as I watched the rest of the video I came to realize you hadn't. I know this story pretty well, as I have read and reread Amundsen's book (awesome read, by the way). Actually, this video was very well researched and I could find no errors worth mentioning. Thanks for putting in the effort to properly research, write and produce this video. I really enjoyed this one! Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.
In the very end of 1985, I moved from San Francisco to Nenana, Alaska. Several months after I moved there, I was hanging out with the son of Gerry Riley, a dog musher, at their home and this older man was visiting. I had no idea who he was but I immediately got the sense that he was very interesting and I recall he was talking with Gerry about doing the Yukon Quest dog sled race. I didn’t find out until several years later that it was Colonel Norman Vaughn; a famous dog musher who continued to mush into his elderly years, including the Iditarod. But what he’s most famous for is being the dog mushing expert on Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole as a young man. He was essentially what made the expedition successful. Unfortunately he died before his planned climb of Mt. Vaughn, the mountain named after him, in Antarctica on his 80th birthday. I feel lucky to have met someone so incredible; even if I didn’t know who he was at the time.
The barque rigged corvette ARA Uruguay which was the main rescue ship for the early expeditions until 1926 is now a museum ship in the Madero Docks in Buenos Aires. Its story in the discovery of Antarctica and the various attempts before Scott and Amundsen to reach the pole is worth a side project to this mega one
a follow up on the third party to this would be awesome ! the mawson expedition is basically never mentioned but it was happening around the same time, but just in general exploration and not getting to the pole - mawson was also with shackleton during his land rescue expedition! cheers to Casting Lots podcast for that heads-up :D
The greatest and vastly under acknowledged Australian (at least in Australia) is without question Hubert Wilkins. So impressive were his polar exploits, North and South, that the US took a nuclear submarine to the North Pole to deposit his ashes.
A "simple" request: Do a vid on the Chicago Deep Tunnel. It is SO huge that I could have hired on when I graduated High (Secondary) School in 1973, continued to work that job through to today in 2021: a year past my retirement date. Yet! It is STILL not complete. It is due to be finished in? 2029. Woof... a 56 year long project! That, Dear Sir, is..... A MEGA Megaproject!
Scott was arrogant and a fool which was a typical British behavior at that time. But his journey is a sign of bravery and also sad at the same time. Amundsen was wise who planned meticulously.
As a Canadian I cringed when I heard they brought ponies to the Antarctic. I'm no horse expert but I think the weather conditions would be way too harsh for their survival. Maybe some Icelandic horses or something would fare better but I'm not sure at those temperatures. I'm also curious as to how they tested the early snowmobiles before the expedition? I would have suggested Iceland or Canada to test them out as Canada's Atlantic coast gets massive amounts of snow and would be a better test area.
Random FYI Drunk History UK did an AWESOME cover of this race as well. Highly recommend it! Additional random FYI the quote "I'm going outside, and I may be a while" is the classiest way to say "I can't sit with the dumb ass that got us killed, I'm gonna go die alone over there; cheers!"
I used to work at a travel company that offered a trip from the Falklands, down the Antarctic Peninsula and halfway around the continent to Australia. A single berth on this trip’s icebreaker cost £30,000 but I could honestly never see why anyone would want to go on such a trip. I know you can see penguins, and it’s probably picturesque in a strange way but just way too cold.
I've read quite a bit on Arctic and Antarctic explorers. But it's the little things that Simon points out that I knew nothing of that complete the story.
I don't know where you got the info for the temperatures but in Marambio Base in the Antarctic Peninsula we got around 32 F° or 0°C as an average in some summer months. True, the base is very far away from the pole but I guess the mistake comes from trying to make an average of temperatures in such a massive extension of land. It's like trying the describe North America by averaging the temperatures of México and Canadá ^^
For your chance to win a custom Tesla Model S and $20,000 and support a great cause, enter at - omaze.com/megaprojects
"race to the south pole" gotta say this video was a lot less pornographic than the title implied
He I recall you saying you had like 3 extra sets of the lawnmower kits, you should do a charity raffle for testicular cancer,
Maybe saying that if anyone wins outside the US they'll have to pay their own taxes and delivery costs would be a good thing to add to the advert part. Doesn't make it not worth entering but it'd be better to be upfront about all the costs.
I love how you said "with the wind blowing through your hair!" with a straight face Simon. :)
Just wanted to say, I checked it out and supported this great cause. Thanks for all the amazing videos!
It should be noted that Amundsen had lived for almost two years with the indigenous people of northern Canada when he traversed the Northwest Passage and learned how to survive in the arctic. This was skills that he put to very good use in 1911.
Fun Fact: there was another race to the South Pole in 2009 and the British actually managed to survive this time. And placed second. Behind a Norwegian team.
Amundsen also knew the dietary needs of such a dry, hostile environment, and perfected a kind of pemmican rich in legumes for regularity. The dogs could eat the human excrement, as their digestive tracts could extract the fats and whatnot that humans rejected. They kept the ship clean that way, too.
Captain Scott did several mistakes, one was using horses to drag sleds, another was adding a fifth expeditionary when provisions had been prepared for only four, and one was ordered to go on foot instead of on skis, another was wasting time carrying stones for geological studies. In my opinion, since I did not want to use dogs so as not to "enslave dogs", having used Mongolian camels, they are camels adapted to cold and snow, which can easily withstand minus 40 degrees Celsius, which can be without food for three months, and if they need water they get it by eating ice or snow. These camels should also be protected with vests and boots. And the camels go towing mixed sleds or carts with wide wheels, and the British go mounted on camels or sleds. an alternative was to have trained polar bears (put muzzles on all of them), and the same thing, the British expeditionaries would ride on them, as if the bears were horses, and these animals drag sledges or carts full of meat and seal fat
Those Norwegians. They come over here to the US and beat us in the Iditarod too. 😆
Just makes me think of when the British tried to design a world class infantry rifle, fumbled, hurt themselves and ultimately left it to the Germans to fix it
@@Azerkeux just curious. Could you go more in depth please. Thank you in advance. 😁
Amundsen gave Scott good advice before the expedition:
1: Ditch those cotton parkas for wolf fur coats as arctic wolf fur is heavier, but is best for keeping warm and it dries off faster than cloth.
2: Those experimental 1911 automotive tractors will break down and to use sleds (sledges) pulled by Greenland dogs instead (plus, you can eat the dogs when the food supplies get low).
3: Those poor Siberian ponies in the Scott expedition are going to die really fast. Again, Greenland dogs last longer.
4: Timing is vital! Start as soon as possible to return before winter sets in. Amundsen jumped the gun, started too early and had to return to base camp because winter weather as still too severe. The Norwegians still started 11 days before Scott at a base 96 km (52 NM) closer to the South Pole than Scott's base. Amundsen made a round-trip of approx. 3440 km (1857 NM) and returned before winter again arrived with no casualties. Scott's expedition suffered terrible delays with the motor sledges breaking down, the ponies and dogs dying, they had to pull their sleds by skiing, and they were trapped in a winter blizzard 11 Nm (18 km) short of One Ton Depot at 79° 29' S where they died.
Well summed.
Don't forget also that Scott refused to march the ponies (that died anyway) to their deaths in order to bring One Ton depot closer to the pole. Had it been 10° latitude further south, they likely would've survived
The blizzard never happened. Scott faked it.
it was Nansen, I believe, who tried to inject some sense into Captain Scott. To little avail. Other than that, the point stands,... As you might recall, the Norwegians left a TON of food and a lot of petrol cans on the ice and snow,.. Indeed Amundsen was plaged by guilt for the remainder of his life,... that he didn't leave a can of fuel and possibly other essensial supples for Scott on the pole..... Mind you, they ran out of fuel, too, the English....
I watched Vox's short documentary about this, basically, Scott and his team experienced an anomaly that year when it comes to the weather. That year, it dropped earlier than the previous years.
“For scientific discovery give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.” Three different heroes of the Golden Age of Discovery. Amundsen was all about being well prepared, and NO room for feelings. Just pure professionalism!
Frank Worsley to me is why Shackleton is remembered the way he is. Worsley in my opinion is the hero of that story of hope. Then again he could have been just the perfect number 2 who respected the leader, while the men follow and respect him so they follow along more so of respecting the leader. I feel he and Roald get low balled for the skills they possessed.
What gave me a real insight into the race to the pole, is reading excerpts from both Scott’s and Amundsen’s expedition diaries. Scott’s reads like an unending tale of woe whereas Amundsen’s reads like a bunch of Scandinavian lads having a fine old time out on a cross country skiing trip. Psychologically speaking the Norwegians had already made it to the pole before they even set foot on the ice. For me though, the greatest tale of Antarctic exploration is the Shackleton expedition in the Endurance. The entire story is utterly eye-popping, in fact if it was written as fiction people would say it was BS. Shackleton was a true leader and an absolute legend…
Scott had bad luck. He's underrated.
@@bobfg3130 Bad luck!? Its fairly obvious that he failed because of poor planning and lack of experience. If you allow for 'bad luck' in an expedition like this, that alone makes you an amateur.
@@jandmath
Yes, bad luck. That year the temperatures were far lower than usual. Shackleton failed too for the same reasons. The only reason why he managed to save his crew was because the temperatures were not unusually low.
@@bobfg3130 just ridiculous mate, the temperature was lower for the Norwegian expedition too. In any case you wilfully ignore all the other issues. 5 when planning was for 4,depots too far apart, horses and machines instead of dogs, abandoned skis!!!! In favour of walking. There is more but that's enough, a cock up from beginning to inevitable end.
@@antipropo461
It's nothing ridiculous. I guess context is a bit hard to read. This is about Shackleton vs Scott. They've BOTH failed. The main difference was that Scott had far lower temperatures to contend with. That's what made the difference. Scott and his team died because of bad luck.
Amudsen did not head to New Zealand to broadcast his success, he went to Tasmania. There he sent telegrams from the GPO at Hobart.
Due to quarantine he left his remaining dogs (huskies) in Tasmania where they went on to form the breeding stock for Australian Antarctic expeditions for decades. The last were returned to Hobart and most were adopted by polar veterans as pets.
Main reason I watch this is because it's basically an old school discovery/history channel show
When history channel actually showed shows that were about history not ice truckers or pawn stars and whatever they show now
@@MrTruehoustonian Oh just try and tell me with a straight face that ancient aliens isn't hilarious. (Seriously though, I miss when they had shows about nazis and cavemen and rennaisance astronomy and...)
@@GleichUmDieEcke I didn't say they weren't entertaining but shows like that showed the history channel was circling the toilet drain and I love history it was so disappointing. hehe fucking nazis alien hybrids that can time travel
Like a history channel show *without the 15 minutes of repeating themselves everytime you return from a commercial break.
I loved watching those shows growing up but they were 25 minutes of content, 20 minutes of recap, and 15 minutes of commercials
itM.j
For anyone wondering, horses sweat, which freezes and kills the animal. Dogs don't sweat.
Well, dogs sweat through their mouths.
Sled dogs can also run day after day in a way most animals can't. They don't need rest days like say humans do.
You forgot that Amundsen & his men ate some of the dogs during the journey because he knew that the fresh meat would provide some vitamin C to ward off the dreaded scurvy. Also, he needed to carry less food because the food would carry itself.
@@autodidact537 They ate most of the dogs, out of around 60 less than 15 return
Huskies, in this case, and dogs overall don't sweat they pant to cool down together with their thick coats, making the dogs ideal dog sleders. In contrast, ponies are thin-skinned and do sweat like humans meaning less body heat and fast you lose body heat more likely you are to die in Arctic conditions.
Four simon whistler videos in the space of two minutes. It's like Christmas came early.
Well, it snowed at my place today, so . . .
Indeed.
I think your collective of channels are some of the most well made and informative on RUclips. Keep up the good work Simon!
2:20 - Chapter 1 - The south pole
3:20 - Chapter 2 - Early adventures
5:35 - Chapter 3 - The 2 teams
6:50 - Chapter 4 - Amundsen's south pole expedition
7:45 - Chapter 5 - Terra nova expedition
8:35 - Chapter 6 - Base camps
10:30 - Chapter 7 - Preparations
12:15 - Chapter 8 - Race to the pole
13:45 - Chapter 9 - Victory & death
16:50 - Chapter 10 - Telling the world
"It is an awful place"... truer words were never spoken.... so sad.... imagine if the teams had traveled together.... a triumphant victorious feat for all... a shared victory is better than what transpired, surely!!
If they had travelled together, They would all have perished together.
Read about this years ago in one of my books on exploration. The heaviest part was the full page "selfie" they took at the poll. You can see the trip wire the camera man used to take the shot, and in their faces you can see every man knows he's dead. Gives me the shivers every time I open the book.
May I know the title of the book please?
Have you seen the other exposures they took at the same time? There’s one blurry one where they’re all cracking up despite the ordeal they just went through
When I was a teenager I was weirdly obsessed with the South Pole expeditions, I had a book full of amazing photos and Amundsen posing with his parka, solemn and determined stuck with me.
This is my story...somewhat. I have been obssessed with their story since the mid 80's. My kids are tired of me telling them about Amundsen and Robert F. Scott.
As a Canadian the coldest temperature I have ever experienced was -40 with the wind chill. That was so otherworldly and unbearable, I simply lack the capacity to even be able to conceive of -56.
As another Canadian. Ive had -40 with -55 windchill. It SUCKED
When I deployed to Afghanistan we traveled through Kyrgyzstan in January. It was normally -15 F at night. One night it dropped to -30 and we had to stay overnight at the cafeteria. They said we'd be dead if we tried to make the 10 minute walk back to our barracks.
@@Turf-yj9ei I can't understand this...o boy!
Simon, please cover Shackleton's rescue land crossing.
That man has mighty big balls to do some of the stuff he did. Which (given the environment) were probably shrunk like the moon in despicable me1
@@evepayler1461 Taking nothing away from Amundsen or Scott, but Shackleton's "failed" expedition is much more impressive. It's incredible that he didn't lose a single man and his team was away from Britain for YEARS. (It's also sadder that many of the survivors had to fight in WWI upon returning home, and not all of them made it back.)
Not the Shackleton attempt, but the team that attempted to lay supplies for Shackleton from the pole onwards. That's a story that deserves telling
In case you haven't watched it yet, he posted it about three months ago.
@@The-Rose-and-the-Cross Yes, watched and enjoyed. Thanks
I consider myself a pretty tough guy. But man, to be able to do what these men did, is just mind blowing.
Simon, you’re one of the best on RUclips.
If I can offer a suggestion, the constant conversions are distracting and unnecessary.
Just pick one and leave it to the viewer to convert! Really only take a a second on a smartphone.
"The team turned north"... from south pole :D it's like saying "The team turned any direction they wished" ;)
You can easily tell who was going to win by looking at the two guy's portraits.
Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott. The three titans of Antarctic exploration. Sir Raymond Priestly (who served under both Shackleton and Scott) gave his impression of the three:
"For scientific leadership, give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen. But when you are in a hopeless situation, when you are seeing no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton. Incomparable in adversity, he was the miracle worker who would save your life against all the odds and long after your number was up. The greatest leader that ever came on God’s earth, bar none."
Great quote!
Good episode. Heard all about these guys when I went to Norway. They were all pioneers, and Amundsen was a true leader and one tough SOB.
What would be interesting for alternative history is Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton teaming up to conquer the South Pole.
and the Beatles too!!
The scientist that did the weather investigation in the years leading up to the expedition gave the predicted weather for the next season and roughly when and how the winter winds set in. Sadly Antarctica has a proven cycle of weather that once every 12 or so years it has a weather event where winter sets in 4-6 weeks early. This is a key factor in what slowed down the expedition on its return trip. Thinking they had 6 weeks of 'good' weather when in fact they didn't and all the fresh winter snow dragged on the sleds. So if they had gone the year before or the year after with the same plan its very probable they would have succeeded. Just commenting this as its a very little known fact that did add to the demise of the expedition.
It's often the smallest details that count the most such as: Amundsen & his men ate some of the dogs because he knew that the fresh meat would provide some vitamin C to prevent scurvy that plagued Scott & his men. And he knew that in super cold conditions the oil burnt for cooking would weep out of its container so he had them all soldered shut. Scott never figured out the problem of the missing oil & he & his men suffered greatly because of this small detail.
Scott is just another example of someone refusing to use what works because of personal beliefs.
Evolution caught up with him.Facts-1,personal beliefs-0
Terra Nova Expedition is one of my favorite stories ever. The entire expedition not just the South Pole dash. It's an incredible collection of colorful characters. It's like they did everything to provide material for a smashing film in the future. Great explorers just like Amundsen, Shackleton, Mawson and their crews. No reason to put down someone to elevate others (a lot of lies have been said about Terra Nova expediton to make it look worse). It's not like the North Pole exploration where three first claims were fraudulent and you had people like Robert Peary who was a genuinely evil person.
In the very end of 1985, I moved from San Francisco to Nenana, Alaska. Several months after I moved there, I was hanging out with the son of Gerry Riley, a dog musher, at their home and this older man was visiting. I had no idea who he was but I immediately got the sense that he was very interesting and I recall he was talking with Gerry about doing the Yukon Quest dog sled race. I didn’t find out until several years later that it was Colonel Norman Vaughn; a famous dog musher who continued to mush into his elderly years, including the Iditarod. But what he’s most famous for is being the dog mushing expert on Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole as a young man. He was essentially what made the expedition successful. Unfortunately he died before his planned climb of Mt. Vaughn, the mountain named after him, in Antarctica on his 80th birthday. I feel lucky to have met someone so incredible; even if I didn’t know who he was at the time.
I saw his photo once but it was from the 90s and it mentioned the mountain too. And it turns out he did climb it in 1994 when he was 88 but died before he was able to repeat it at age 100.
@@keirfarnum6811 Vaughn was on Admiral Byrd’s 1928 Antarctica Expedition. Heck of a man
@@HieMan-g1n He had a double knee replacement in 2001. I watched him all summer 2001 in the gym go from exercise to exercise on crutches absolutely intent that he was going to climb his mountain one last time. In my 40s now. Anytime I feel like my body wont let me and I want to quit I can just remember Vaughn in the gym and it inspires me to work through it.
Amundsen describing how much he hated the North and South poles in such eloquent phrases got a chuckle out of me.
You didn’t mention the reason the brits didn’t use dogs was their aversion to eating them. The Norwegians would use them as food at certain points when they needed fewer due to supplies being used and the sleds weighing less. The brits planned on using the pony’s this way, but pony’s don’t do well in that environment. They died before they could use them to eat. This is the reason they completed the trek and were first.
If that is why we lost, so be it. We do NOT eat dogs. Besides, we invented the jet engine a bit later on, NOT the Norwegians, so we all can fly there now if we so wish.
@@Simonsvids this is some A-tier salt right here 🤣🤣
Apparently, Amundsen was quite fond of the taste of dog meat. How fortunate for him. It’d be like me going on an expedition with Kobe cows.
@@TheSpaceBrosShow But nowhere CLOSE to the amount of salt produced by @UrinatingTree when the Cleveland Brown beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs last year.
Amundsen actually put on weight during his polar expedition, about 5 kilograms (over 10 pounds). He put it down to his fondness for dog cutlets.
Simon has 193 youtube channels so does sometimes get his mega and side projects mixed up....not on this occasion. A truly epic paragraph in the human story.
A great episode.
Another tragic exploration story suggestion is the Australian case of Burke & Wills.
I’ll have to look into that. Thanks for the point!
Another good example of REALLY poor planning and leadership :)
Actually yes! I’ve been to the dig tree. It’s still there
Another cock up by unqualified fools is more like it.
Although Scott tragedy is well known, people tend to forget Ernest Shackleton Endurance debacle and final triumph. He did not lose a single man for 3 years. He’s epic journey in two boats to elephant Island and then to the wrong side of South Georgia is epic, not counting the cross land journey through the South Georgia wilderness to the only whaling station available for rescue.
This epic journey should also be object of your attention.
Shackleton didn’t lose any of the men from the Endurance. But Capt Mackintosh of the Aurora and another officer died (they were the party that laid depots along the Ross Ice Shelf for the second leg of the Trans Antarctic Expedition after Shackleton and the landing party planned to use upon leaving the pole)
Absolutely! Also have to put Victor Campbell in the mix. 👍
The Shackelton expedition is a story about a great leader bringing all his men home alive! It is a fascinating story!
One thing I noticed that was not mentioned is on Shackleton's return from his journey south, he went on tour and giving lectures on the conditions of the inner Antarctic ice shelf. Because Scott hated Shackleton, he refused to take any notice of the information gathered however a little-known Norwegian at the time by the name of Amundson took everything he could in assisting his future expedition.
Much obliged for this presentation.
Profound sum-up, Simon. You state with dignity the evolution from 'noble heroism' views to a clearer study of British-team errors. Also vital: Amundsen chose his team by not protocol but specialized ability, and had learned from Indigenous people re clothing and comfort with dogs.
awesome story love explorer stories very uplifting stuff
Also, the Model X has the Falcon doors.
The Model S has standard doors.
There are no x-wing doors
Is Danny sending out signals via errors in the copy that he needs help escaping from Simon's basement?
Clearly
Being Norwegian, I will still salute Scott and his team... but, a greater fool sadly...England never had. A good thing I would say.
Chivalry and honor. Great vid!
Getting to the pole and seeing that Norwegian flag must have been soul breaking but I'll bet Scott would be the first to congratulate Amundsen on a job well done
Douglas Mawson is another Antartic explorer of the time, and I recommend his first book "Mawson's Will"
Amundsen is reported to have said, when receiving the news of Scott's death, that Scott had won as he would always Scott of the Antarctic.
Amundsen would be a terrific CEO
The Last Place on Earth mini-series remains to this day the best dramatization of the race.
Can we take a minute to appreciate the fact the Simon managed to squeeze a Raid Shadow Legends joke into a serious ad read? O.G.B.B BABY!!!!!!!!
Amundsen was focused on one goal and everything that he did was in service to that. Scott, on the other hand had muddled aims and couldn't decide if he was on a scientific expedition or in a race. on their way back from the Pole, they even wasted a day performing experiments and were hauling back a big pile of rocks on their sledges when they died. the lesson to be drawn is quite clear. people love a tale of tragedy and Scott's story is certainly fascinating, but Amundsen provided a template of success in the most perilous of environments
We need a D Day mega project video. The amount of work, subterfuge, and effort rivals that of any project on this channel.
Excellent video. Thanks Simon. You are my fav youtuber.
Apsley Cherry-Garrard was VINTAGE “GANGSTER-HARD.”
Even today it's a bad idea to try operating a land vehicle in frigid temperature for that far of a distance cause so many things can break. I'm surprised Scott almost made it back with what he had.
A video about Andree's Arctic balloon expedition would be nice!
In the biography it is stated that only two men knew the secret mission (prior to landing on Madeira) of the Amundsen expedition, Amundsen himself and his brother in Norway.
Initially Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole wasn't the original plan, Norway's most famous Arctic explorer at the time Fridtjof Nansen wanted Amundsen to use his ship Fram to explore and research the Arctic currents and their affects on the global climate. But because of American Frederick Cook's claim of reaching the North Pole in 1910, the plan was changed to the South Pole.
Mega Project suggestions: Benban Solar Park, Aswan High Dam, Bar Lev Line and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Amundsens effort was not swashbuckling adventure. He were there to accomplish task and to win. He was within his and his teams prior experience all the time. In all fairness Norwegians had gigantic advantage on their knowledge on winter survival in extreme conditions. Norwegians used fur clothing. They knew only dogs can work well in such cold enviroment, and sledge dogs are beasts of burden, not pets.
He did reach the pole in time to escape the cold spell that doomed Scott and his compatriots.
Scott did thou forever made people to remember also Roald Amundsen. British sportsman like Scott had near zero chances against semi-pros like Norwegians were.
I know I’m late but I’d love to see Simon make a video on the Winter Journey. 3 members of the Terra Nova expedition walked 60 miles through the Antarctic winter to collect penguin eggs; it’s an insane story and I’m amazed nobody died during that part
Simons my information DUDE. I think I'm subscribed to all his channels.. he covers everything
"Your favourite dark fantasy RPG on your phone" - that's literally the most subtle Shade: Raddo Legends reference I've heard
Surprise Surprise the people who's nation is a frozen hell scape thrived in a frozen hell scape.
Correct but not as you think -26 is cold in pretty much all places in Norway.
However Amundsen spent years with the Inuits learning most of their tricks including dog sleds who was never used seriously in Norway
The oak ridge national laboratory is a very good mega project
I’m surprised the Alaska Pipeline hasn’t been shown. It cost $8 billion in 1975 dollars.
that Tesla interior looks like a $70,000 tablet that's drive-able.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom with Robert Falcon Scott 🇳🇴 and Norway with Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen. They both found the Antarctic pole, furthest south in the world. Thus exists now the United States 🇺🇸 Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The heroism of such people will not be forgotten.
Do the kharkovchankas made by the Soviet union they were made for exploring Antarctica.
Very good video Simon
"Which way to Antarctica, Gandalf?"
"Right. No wait, left."
What I really want to know is, who refills the single ATM machine in Antartica and what’s the surcharge for using it?
Wait what? There's an ATM in Antarctica?
@@ghosthound17 Yep, at McMurdo Station. Technically, there are two of them, but the second is never in use; it's there in case they need to cannibalize it for spare parts. Wells Fargo provided them, and a technician goes down to do preventive maintenance every couple of years. Wells Fargo doesn't restock it with cash from outside; somehow the money used down there "recirculates", but I've never seen an explanation of exactly how that's handled.
Sounds like a topic for Half as Interesting channel. :D
I'm not sure if if this is true, but a British adventurer and actor called Brian Blessed, likes to tell a story that Amundsen, upon hearing the new that Scott's expedition had resulted in his team's death exclaimed "Scott has beaten me". He realised that the tragedy would overshadow his team's achievement.
Forget the damn Tesla. I've read about the heroic age, but I hadn't heard that the two groups met. Just work together!!! Save some lives!
-70 F is no joke. If you're unprepared, it can kill you in minutes.
When I was in middle school we had a visit from Peter Scott who was born after the expedition left England and so he never met his father. Of course Peter was a world renowned ornithologist, I think I still have the book he signed.
Wow!!! He lived a very long life I think, once saw him interviewed by Wogan in the 80s
I also would like to see you cover the Shackelton expedition. It would be a bit more upbeat
Which one? Nimrod or Endurance?
(It’s gonna be Endurance isn’t it? Still picturing Kenneth Branagh on the James Caird)
@@abbaszaidi8371 of course Endurance, or what the official expedition's title. Nimrod would be covered as I think it led to him leading the crew of The Endurance. It's a more harrowing story though, and just tells of how incredibly intelligent and badass he was. Pulled a dude from the water with one arm a la Cap. America, navigates three (open cockpit?) vessels off the shelf to an island, then takes off to South Georgia in one, lands and then traverses the island (I imagine the cliffs of insanity)...with rope being the only 'safety' gear to get to a whaling station to get a vessel to go rescue his still surviving crew....all of them.
Yeah, I think that one should get covered.
Good video 👍
Legitimately tweeted Simon asking for an Antarctica megaproject and wake up and this video has appeared... That was quick
Thank you
Simon is life! 😁
thumbs up before even watching because this is one of my favourite stories. Idea for a sideproject or biographics/geographics vid: the Endurance expedition
I am 53 and until now I never really knew what happened, I paid little attention at school, so thank you.
Scott had outfitted his men with non-breathing wool-cotton clothing. The men froze when they stopped work=-as the sweat inside froze. Amundsen outfitted his men with Inuit fur clothing-which allowed the men's sweat to evaporate. In addition, they had plenty of fresh seal meat-while Scott's men were eating processed foods which had no Vitamin C-Scott's expedition doctor noted that the men were already suffering from scurvey by the time they left for the pole.
That's why Amundsen & his men ate some of the dogs because he knew that eating fresh meat provided some vitamin C to prevent scurvy.
@@autodidact537nobody knew what vitamin c was then
Cracking as always.
When I started watching this video, I thought you guys had made a pretty basic mistake. However, as I watched the rest of the video I came to realize you hadn't. I know this story pretty well, as I have read and reread Amundsen's book (awesome read, by the way). Actually, this video was very well researched and I could find no errors worth mentioning. Thanks for putting in the effort to properly research, write and produce this video. I really enjoyed this one! Best regards from Brasilia, Brazil.
In the very end of 1985, I moved from San Francisco to Nenana, Alaska. Several months after I moved there, I was hanging out with the son of Gerry Riley, a dog musher, at their home and this older man was visiting. I had no idea who he was but I immediately got the sense that he was very interesting and I recall he was talking with Gerry about doing the Yukon Quest dog sled race. I didn’t find out until several years later that it was Colonel Norman Vaughn; a famous dog musher who continued to mush into his elderly years, including the Iditarod. But what he’s most famous for is being the dog mushing expert on Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole as a young man. He was essentially what made the expedition successful. Unfortunately he died before his planned climb of Mt. Vaughn, the mountain named after him, in Antarctica on his 80th birthday. I feel lucky to have met someone so incredible; even if I didn’t know who he was at the time.
6:03 It's Roald, not Ronald, Amundsen.
Also, Scott had bad luck with the weather. It was unusually cold during his expedition.
Bullshit, it was just as cold for Amundsen & his men.
You can't have a race for the baddest ass in town against the Vikings for sure.
The barque rigged corvette ARA Uruguay which was the main rescue ship for the early expeditions until 1926 is now a museum ship in the Madero Docks in Buenos Aires. Its story in the discovery of Antarctica and the various attempts before Scott and Amundsen to reach the pole is worth a side project to this mega one
Well now you have to do the North Pole. Or the search for the northwest passage
Also, Victor Campbell doesn’t get enough props. Inexpressible Island!!!
a follow up on the third party to this would be awesome ! the mawson expedition is basically never mentioned but it was happening around the same time, but just in general exploration and not getting to the pole - mawson was also with shackleton during his land rescue expedition!
cheers to Casting Lots podcast for that heads-up :D
The greatest and vastly under acknowledged Australian (at least in Australia) is without question Hubert Wilkins. So impressive were his polar exploits, North and South, that the US took a nuclear submarine to the North Pole to deposit his ashes.
Where's my LIGO Simon?!!!
These guys are absolute beasts.
Taxes and shipping included!
Me, a Canadian - :D
For Americans!
Me, a Canadian - Goddammit
Great video!!!
A "simple" request: Do a vid on the Chicago Deep Tunnel. It is SO huge that I could have hired on when I graduated High (Secondary) School in 1973, continued to work that job through to today in 2021: a year past my retirement date.
Yet!
It is STILL not complete.
It is due to be finished in?
2029.
Woof... a 56 year long project!
That, Dear Sir, is.....
A MEGA Megaproject!
Do the Overseas Railway in Key West please i wont stop untill you do.
Not the first
Not the last
Enjoy your Friday
I got your back
Have a splendid weekend everyone
Dude, his name is Roald, not Ronald
Scott was arrogant and a fool which was a typical British behavior at that time. But his journey is a sign of bravery and also sad at the same time. Amundsen was wise who planned meticulously.
Idea: Freeport Pit Mine, located in Papua Indonesia.
I'll second that, it's one hell of a hole lol
As a Canadian I cringed when I heard they brought ponies to the Antarctic. I'm no horse expert but I think the weather conditions would be way too harsh for their survival. Maybe some Icelandic horses or something would fare better but I'm not sure at those temperatures.
I'm also curious as to how they tested the early snowmobiles before the expedition? I would have suggested Iceland or Canada to test them out as Canada's Atlantic coast gets massive amounts of snow and would be a better test area.
This was filmed right after a Blaze, I think.
Random FYI Drunk History UK did an AWESOME cover of this race as well. Highly recommend it!
Additional random FYI the quote "I'm going outside, and I may be a while" is the classiest way to say "I can't sit with the dumb ass that got us killed, I'm gonna go die alone over there; cheers!"
I used to work at a travel company that offered a trip from the Falklands, down the Antarctic Peninsula and halfway around the continent to Australia. A single berth on this trip’s icebreaker cost £30,000 but I could honestly never see why anyone would want to go on such a trip. I know you can see penguins, and it’s probably picturesque in a strange way but just way too cold.
Good video, a shame that the photos of the 2 explorer's was a dead give away who was going to fail and perish
I've read quite a bit on Arctic and Antarctic explorers.
But it's the little things that Simon points out that I knew nothing of that complete the story.
I don't know where you got the info for the temperatures but in Marambio Base in the Antarctic Peninsula we got around 32 F° or 0°C as an average in some summer months.
True, the base is very far away from the pole but I guess the mistake comes from trying to make an average of temperatures in such a massive extension of land. It's like trying the describe North America by averaging the temperatures of México and Canadá ^^
Im pretty sure there was a famouse man named tom crean that safed evans