Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) Norwegian polar explorer. He led the Antarctic expedition of 1910-1912 and was the first to reach the South Pole.
He beat the foolish and ill-prepared Englishman Robert Falcon Scott in a race of epic proportions to be the first man to reach the south pole.
Now the race is about to begin anew.
Aftenposten reports that:
"A team of British and Norwegian polar explorers plan a replay of the classic race to the South Pole between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. The result will be a six-episode long documentary.
Next Tuesday the two teams will set off, equipped with gear from 1911,with a course for Greenland and the North Pole. The climatic challenges along the 256 kilometer (159-mile) trek will mirror those that faced the teams along the original route. It is no longer legal to use dog teams in the Antarctic.
The BBC, History Channel and other stations will air "The Great Race" as a six-part documentary, which may reveal the secrets behind Norwegian Amundsen's success in 1911.
"This will be a great challenge, not least because we have to use 90-year-old equipment. But we will have fun, and we will win," said Norway's expedition leader Rune Gjeldnes, who reckons the greatest danger will be the wind-exposed zone they must traverse on the first seven days of the challenge.
Norway's team is also made up of polar explorer Inge Solheim, experienced mountain climber Harald Kippenes, dogsledder Ketil Reitan and American dogsledder John Huston. In contrast to the three years Amundsen used to prepare his trip, the new squad will have two months.
The gear will include the sealskin suits, reindeer hide jackets, wooden skis and now-antiquated navigation system that the first explorers used. They hope to overcome temperatures ranging from a few degrees above freezing to -40 in 80 days - Amundsen used 99."
Some interesting links:
Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
Scott Polar Research Institute
Fram Museum
If you want to know more about the original race to the south pole then you ought to read Roland Huntfords The last Place on Earth