1911 - 2011 South Pole Centenary Expedition, Monday Night Lecture, RGS-IBG

Every Monday evening the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) invites inspirational speakers to lecture their members on subjects that simply blow your mind away. As they whisk you up on their adventure through exotic countries or exploring geographical questions, they exude a kind of passion that makes the back of your neck tingle with excitement and awe, as another world folds out in front of you. They illuminate colours in the world that you have not noticed until now and as you listen, you realise there is so much more out there, just waiting patiently for you to embark on your on expedition to discover them.  In the Ondaajte Theatre you are always transformed into a more informed, enlightened person and often with a new aspiration.

As a member I try to attend as many Monday night lectures as possible, but I ensure I never miss one discussing polar adventures full of bravery, hardships and determination. 

My dream of visiting the Antarctic to help further scientific knowledge was first ignited when I heard Paul Rose (pictured above), Vice President of the RGS and polar expert, speak about his time as the Base Commander of Rothera Research Station, Antarctica for the British Antarctic Survey.  Paul Rose is the most inspirational, passionate and captivating person I have ever met and he always has his audience entranced with his stories.

On Monday 18th 2013 my ambition to work in Antarctica was strengthened by Jan-Gunnar Winther, director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, who discussed his adventure of retracing Roald Amundsen in the South Pole 1911-2011 Centenary Expedition to the South Pole (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/). 

Roald Amunsden (pictured below) was a highly successful Norwegian polar explorer and the first person to capture the South Pole on December 14^th 1911, beating Robert Scott Falcon and the Terra Nova Expedition by one month.

Amunsden had dreamed of venturing to the South Pole for 10 years and during this time, he never allowed anyone to steal this away from him.

Originally the FRAM’s third voyage was to the Arctic to explore the North Polar basin, but Amundsen had a much grander plan, he wanted to be the first to the South Pole. Amundsen kept his intention top-secret, only confiding in his brother and the ship’s commander, even the King of Norway was kept in the dark!  In 1909 he started making arrangements for the FRAM to head South and it was not until she had set sailed from England in 1911 that the crew were informed they were taking a small detour to the Antarctic!

The Fram, Antarctica

This expedition took Amundsen a lot of guts to carry out, because he placed a huge amount of pressure upon himself having deceived the King of Norway, fooled his peers and was also in a significant amount of debt.  Amundsen did not just need to succeed in reaching the Pole first, but he had to pull off a spectacular triumph.

Antarctica is a very dangerous place with its unforgiving landscape, extreme environment, cascades of ice and riddles of crevasses.  All of which, make it challenging and frequently nigh on impossible to navigate through the labyrinth of snow and ice.

Amundsen ventured into the unknown from the Bay of Whales using his own calculations to navigate through the white wilderness. Whereas the Centenary Expedition used remote sensing to create their map and find the safest route that closely followed the footsteps of Amundsen. How times have changed!

As a precaution, Amundsen had ice caves built along their trail, so if the group or an individual became lost and found one of these caves, they would know which direction to head in.  This was very sensible, but Amundsen did have other quite absurd ideas! Juan-Gunnar gave us an example. Amundsen thought it was important for the group to reach the pole and return home in clean underwear.  At the last ice cave before the pole, he therefore ordered everyone to change their dirty underwear for a clean pair and then had someone place the dirty underwear on a pole on top of the ice cave. Amundsen believed that when they returned from the pole to the cave, the Antarctic wind would have blown their underwear clean!

Unlike Amundsen, who used huskie dogs (initially he started with 52 and returned with 11!) to pull his sledges filled with the essentials, the Centenary Expedition skied across the Antarctic and pulled their sledges.  They did have one secret weapon up their sleeves and that was kites, they had planned to speed across the snow and ice using kites but unfortunately, the wind rarely blew in the right direction! This begs the question; are some traditional methods still superior over modern innovations?

Team Kite Surfing (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/)

Jan-Gunnar Winther had a very good sense of humour and stressed the importance of keeping in good spirits during a journey through Antarctica, as it’s easy to become demoralised in such a place and lose momentum. This is because you are isolated from civilisation and social interaction, therefore only have your thoughts to occupy oneself for long periods of time and with experiencing very harsh conditions on a daily basis,  this all takes its toll on your mind and body.

The Centenary Expedition found skiing across the Ross Ice Sea Shelf especially difficult.  The sea shelf moves continuously up and down with the sea; a baron white landscape stretching out over an area so large, it is hard for us mere mortals to understand.  The pure whiteness of the landscape is only broken by the striking blue horizon of the sky, however on many days the group faced gale force winds that whipped up the snow, allowing them to only see a few feet in front of them. Not even a penguin dares go this far!

Each evening the Centenary Expedition updated their blog, please read their entries here to learn more about their journey through Antarctica, it really is extraordinary (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/diary/). I am very envious!

The team finished their expedition in a magnificent ‘movie moment’, reaching the Pole just 17 minutes before midnight on 14^th December 2011, exactly 100 years later after Amundsen.

Team at the Geographical South Pole (http://sorpolen2011.npolar.no/en/)

When Juan-Guannar finished his lecture I felt invigorated and more dedicated to my cause of visiting Antarctica to carry out scientific research and trek across its unimaginable landscape.

I view having CFS/M.E. as a minor detour in my aim of reaching Antarctica and believe that the life skills I will develop and learn through having this condition will place me in good stead for when I finally begin my adventure.

Amundsen was extremely dedicated to his dream and through his gritty determination and boldness he succeed in fulfilling this dream. I look up to Amundsen and am inspired by his journey, and like him, I shall not let anyone steal my dream away from me.