Hellbent for the Pole: An insider’s account of the ‘race to the South Pole’ 1957-58
Creator
Date
2007
Identifier
Central G850 1955 T72 MC19
Type
Publisher
Auckland: Random House (with kind permission)
Abstract
The TAE was the first overland trip to the South Pole since Amundsen and Scott’s expeditions of the early 20th century. British scientist and explorer, Vivian Fuchs (d. 1999) intended to cross the polar cap in a hundred days. Edmund Hillary, fresh from the success of Everest in 1953, headed the Ross Sea Support Team. Hillary’s men set up Scott Base and using Ferguson tractors, airplanes and dogs they laid resupply depots for Fuchs and his men. In the end, Fuchs was weeks late and it would have been unsustainable for Hillary and his team to wait for him at Depot 700 as intended. So, ignoring telegrams from the Expedition Committee, Hillary pushed on to the Pole and reached it before Fuchs. This incident caused a bit of a ‘kerfuffle’.
Files
Citation
Geoffrey Lee Martin, “Hellbent for the Pole: An insider’s account of the ‘race to the South Pole’ 1957-58,” ourheritage.ac.nz | OUR Heritage, accessed November 26, 2024, https://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/index.php/items/show/9624.