Abstract
The return journey of the South Pole party, from the edge of the Great Ice Barrier to the Framheim camp, is chronicled and analyzed in this chapter. Featured are the following events: A new and speedier travel strategy, credited to the dogs, is devised, enabling Roald Amundsen to return quickly and announce his winning of the race to the Pole; the dogs struggle through loose snow and low visibility; mysterious tracks are discovered; a rare, dog-related argument between Amundsen and lead dog driver Helmer Hanssen takes place; and the dogs negotiate hard, crusty snow, old pressure ridges, and dangerous crevasses, while pulling accumulated loads. Included in this chapter is the author’s analysis regarding the food available at depots, the feeding of the dogs, and Amundsen’s method of using and destroying the sled dogs. The chapter concludes with the party’s arrival at Framheim on the morning of January 26, 1912 (International Date Line corrected to January 25), after tremendous efforts from the sled dogs of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition, who had succeeded in helping Amundsen reach the South Pole.
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References
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Tahan, M.R. (2019). The South Pole Party Returns Home. In: Roald Amundsen’s Sled Dogs. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02692-9_39
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