South Pole Expedition: Following in Scott's Footsteps

Thursday, May 25, 2006
A team of Polar Explorers will attempt to complete an epic journey at the South Pole, starting in October, by following in the footsteps of Robert Falcon Scott, a British explorer, who, along with his entire team, died there in 1912. The new expedition, will travel by foot, unsupported, the same way that Scott and his team did, pulling 400 pound sleds behind them. The entire trip is expected to take four months. You can read all about it at the team's website, as well as sponsor a mile of the trip.

For those that don't know, Robert Falcon Scott set off to become the first man to reach the South Pole. His team set off on November 1st, 1911 and arrived at the South Pole on January 18th, 1912, only to find that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had arrived two weeks earlier. A dejected Scott, and his team, set off to return to their waiting ships, but along the way, most of his crew succumbed to exhaustion and extreme cold. They pressed on, but were dangerously low on supplies, but in the end, Scott and his remain team members, died in their tents, in the middle of a massive blizzard, just 11 miles from their major supply depot. The Scott expedition has gone down as one of the most ambitious, and ultimately disastrous, polar excursions of all time. Editor's Note: "Falcon" may just be the coolest middle name in history!