Question 1

He beat everyone to the South Pole and came back with every man healthy. Where did he learn how?

Accepted Answer

In a small bay in Arctic Canada, six years earlier, where he spent two winters living among the Netsilik Inuit and learned how they travel, dress and eat in the cold. He treated that as expert training. Almost nobody else did.

Question 2

Roald Amundsen: what happened in 1903–1906?

Accepted Answer

Two winters at Gjoa Haven — Iced in during the Northwest Passage, he apprentices himself to the Netsilik Inuit: dog driving, snow shelters, loose fur clothing, and the discipline of travelling slowly enough not to sweat.

Question 3

Roald Amundsen: what happened in 1906?

Accepted Answer

The Northwest Passage, at last — Three years and a 47-tonne herring boat complete what the Royal Navy had failed at for three centuries — and what killed all 129 of Franklin's men sixty years earlier.

Question 4

Roald Amundsen: what happened in 1909?

Accepted Answer

The target changes, secretly — Americans claim the North Pole. Amundsen, funded and equipped for a northern drift, switches to the south and tells almost nobody — including most of his own crew.

Question 5

Roald Amundsen: what happened in 14 December 1911?

Accepted Answer

The South Pole — They take repeated observations over several days to be sure of the position, plant a tent and the Norwegian flag, and leave a letter for Scott to carry home in case they die on the return.

Question 6

Roald Amundsen: what happened in January 1912?

Accepted Answer

Back, heavier than they left — Ninety-nine days for the round trip. Nobody died, nobody was badly injured, and the men had gained weight. Scott's party reached the Pole on 17 January and none of them came back.

Question 7

Roald Amundsen: what happened in 18 June 1928?

Accepted Answer

He goes to look for a rival — Umberto Nobile, with whom he had fallen out publicly, crashes his airship in the Arctic. Amundsen takes off to search for him and vanishes. No trace of the aircraft has ever been found.

Roald Amundsen — Both poles · 1911 · first to the South · Great Explorers

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