Survival lessons from the race to the South Pole

Lately I had been fascinated by the explorations of Roald Admunson and Robert Scott in their race to reach the South Pole first. One team (Admunsons) made it there in superb time and back again with no fatalities or difficulties while the other (Scott) was completely wiped out to a man. So why did one succeed so well while the other became fatal? Some comparisons...

Admunson spent time in the northern wilderness and learned to dress in animal furs like the Inuit did for millennia, which adapted perfectly to the same cold on the other side of the Earth. Fur is waterproof and windproof, and it allowed sweat to evaporate. They looked like Yetis, but it worked. Scott OTOH wore heavy wool which was in common use in Europe, but which absorbed sweat and froze to the body.

Admunson used the Inuit method of dogs and dog sleds to move his gear. The dogs he used were bred for cold climates and readily ate the local walrus and seals shot by Admunson's team. Scott OTOH hand didn't understand dog sleds so he used a combination of ponies and motorized tractors. The food and fuel for both he had to bring with him from England.

Admunson travelled by ski and sled, essentially using the terrain itself to his advantage, and started off in a direction where he would have a mimimum of high altiture travel. Scott OTOH planned to have his team manhandle his gear to the pole and back, doubling the amount of calories needed to do the same work. Plus his length of high altitude travel was twice that of Admunson's and the thinner air wore his team out quicker.

Admunson picked people who had heavy experience skiing and with dog handling. One guy was even a carpenter and made the sleds lighter for the dogs. Scott OTOH left behind the only technician who knew how to maintain the motorized tractors so they broke down on the first day. the ponies had specially crafted snow shoes but his second in command talked him into abandinign them. The ponies narrow legs sank into the snow and slowed the pace down to a crawl.

Admunsen kept everything packaged for mobility. All items were in containers permanently lashed to the sleds. OTOH Scott would constantly tie and untie the items on and off his sled every time he stopped, which increased fatigue.

Admunson sealed his supplies carefully until he needed them. He had cans of fuel which he soldered closed to protect them from evaporation (a can left behind was found 50 years later and it was still full). OTOH Scott simply used the screw on cap that came with the can...which had a leather washer that allowed evaporation from the sun. When Scott came back to his depots he would routinely find his fuel half gone.

Admunson was heavily cautious about leaving supplies and markers behind. He would create a supply depot with large flags and then soe several miles on either side he left posts pointing in the direction of the depot. If he missed the depot in the snow he would definitely have hit the markers Scott OTOH left behind fewer depots and fewer markers where they were. He wound up dying only 11 miles from his next depot.

Admunson had a quality sextant that he used to navigate his way there and back. Scott used a complex wonder gadget for its time (forgot what it was called) which took longer to get bearings from.

Admunson was hard core practical in that he considered his dogs to be expendible. As they got tired he would shoot them and use them as food for himself and the remaining dogs. He left with 56 dogs and came back with 11, but he and all his people survived and actually gained weight during the trip. OHOT Scott thought that was animal cruelty and refused to even overwork his ponies (one reason why his supply depot was 11 miles too short; he didn't want to push them into the interior that hard).

The moral of the story? Use gear that works, test it out before you use it, and don't play pretend that things will somehow work itself out by chance. Go ahead and err on the side of paranoia concerning things your life will depend upon. Use what works, not what is fashionable. Pick a team of people you can rely on. Know the terrain and use it to your advantage. Use as much of the local resources as you can rather than your immediate supplies. When you have a plan, stick with it; changing it in mid crisis will give different results during the crisis.. Plus, when it's a matter of survival you will have a whole new code of ethics you normally wouldn't have. Best to accept that now.

The full text of the comparisons can be found here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...tt_Expeditions

FYI...Scott's corpse is currently under 75 feet of ice 30 feet away from where he originally died and slowly moving toward the sea in an ice drift. In 200+ years it will float out to sea in an iceberg. Mother Nature is a complete bitch if you don't take her seriously.

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Survival lessons from the race to the South Pole