The South Pole

by Roald Amundsen

Overview

Roald Amundsen, geboren 1872 in der Nähe on Oslo/Norwegen, gehört zu den bekanntesten und bedeutendsten Polarforschern überhaupt. Seine Reisen in die Arktis und Antarktis brachten der Wissenschaft große Erkenntnisse, immerhin war er der erste, der die Nordwestpassage durchfuhr und sowohl den geografischen Nord- sowie auch Südpol erreichte. Die Erforschung der arktischen Teile der Welt gehörte in der damaligen Zeit zu den höchsten Zielen der Polarforscher, das Erreichen dieser Erdteile wurde unter ihnen wettkampfartig ausgetragen. Nachdem Robert Edwin Peary behauptete, als erster den Nordpol erreicht zu haben, entschloss sich Amundsen fast zeitgleich mit Robert Falcon Scott kurzerhand für die Expedition zum Südpol, welchen er auch vor seinem Konkurrenten am 14. Dezember 1911 erreichte. In diesem Buch sind alle Geschehnisse rund um die Expedition zum Südpol geschildert. Hierbei handelt es sich um eine englischsprachige Ausgabe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783943850116
Publisher:	Weitsuechtig
Publication date:	03/20/2013
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 1.11(d)

About the Author

Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the Antarctic expedition (1910-12) to discover the South Pole in December 1911 and he was the first expedition leader to (undisputedly) reach the North Pole in 1926. He is also known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage. He disappeared in June 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission. Amundsen, along with Douglas Mawson, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Read an Excerpt

Meanwhile we had brought all our things as far as possible into a place of safety ; the dogs lay harnessed to reduce the risk of losing them. Wisting was just going over to his sledge—he had gone the same way several times before—when suddenly I saw nothing but his head, shoulders and arms above the snow. He had fallen through, but saved himself by stretching his arms out as he fell. The crevasse was bottomless, like the rest. We went into the tent and cooked lobscouse. Leaving the weather to take care of itself, we made ourselves as comfortable as we could. It was then one o'clock in the afternoon. The wind had fallen considerably since we came in, and before we knew what was happening, it was perfectly calm. It began to brighten a little about three, and we went out to look at it. The weather was evidently improving, and on the northern horizon there was a sign of blue sky. On the south it was thick. Far off, in the densest part of the mist, we could vaguely see the outline of a dome-like elevation, and Wisting and Hanssen went off to examine it. The dome turned out to be one of the small haycock formations that we had seen before in this district. They struck at it with their poles, and—just as they expected—it was hollow, and revealed the darkest abyss. Hanssen was positively chuckling with delight when he told us about it; Hassel sent him an envious glance. A pa a HANSSEN'S REGRETS 11 By 4 p.m. it cleared, and a small reconnoitring party, composed of three, started to find a way out of this. I was one of the three, so we had a long Alpine rope between us ; I don't like tumbling in, if I can avoid it by such simple means. We set out to the east—thedirection that had brought us out of the same broken ground before—and we had not gone more than a few paces wh...