EXPLORERS: THE LAST VIKING

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Daring Facts About Roald Amundsen, The Last Viking

Roald Amundsen was, simply put, one of the greatest explorers of all time. He is most famous for being the first man to reach the South Pole, but in his journeys across the polar wastes, he experienced unimaginable horrors. Let us journey forth to discover some trailblazing facts about the Last of the Vikings.

1.  A Legend is Born

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen was born on July 16, 1872, in Borje, Norway. The sea was in his blood. He came from a long line of shipowners and captains, including his father, Jens Amundsen. Roald was the youngest of four brothers born to Jens and Hanna Sahlqvist.

2. A Ladies’ Man

Although he never married himself, Amundsen was rumored to have many lady friends. He preferred the company of married women, but left them when he felt things were getting serious. Some of his most famous conquests included the wife of a famous Norwegian lawyer and the wife of a landed British aristocrat.

3. Commitment Ready

The year Amundsen died was the year he had become engaged to Bess Magids, a 31-year-old from Alaska who had been in a long relationship with him while she was married to a proprietor of trading stations. She had recently divorced her husband and her marriage with Amundsen was supposed to take place later that year. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

4.  Medicine Man

Amundsen wasn’t originally going to be an explorer. He didn’t even plan on ever going out to sea—at least not if his mother had a say in it. She wanted her youngest to become a doctor. A dutiful son, Amundsen enrolled in university to study medicine, but it quickly became clear that school was not the place for him. Instead of studying, he would spend time skiing, developing his nautical skills, and learning to survive in the bitter cold.

5.  No Bookworm

I’m sure that Amundsen’s professors would have been shocked that their pupil had gone on to great things. Although he was enrolled in the best schools, he barely managed to pass any of his classes.

6. Change of Plans

Amundsen was only in school for his mother, so after she tragically died, he had no reason to keep pretending he was going to be a doctor. Not long after she passed, he dropped out of medical school.

7.  Thrill Seeker

Though he didn’t enjoy studying, a book was what sparked Amundsen’s interest in exploration. It was about Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition in search of the Northwest Passage. Rather than deter Amundsen, the daring story inspired him, and Franklin’s incomplete voyage became a lifelong source of fascination and motivation.

8.  Alone

Amundsen dealt with immense heartache before he was even old enough to rent a car. He was left fatherless at the young age of 14, and his mother passed when he was only 21.

9.  When Life Gives You Lemons…

Amundsen’s now-legendary trip to the South Pole happened quite by chance. His original plan was the exact opposite…literally. He wanted to lead an expedition to be the first person to reach the North Pole. Unfortunately, before he set out, Robert E. Peary and Frederick A. Cook announced they had already made it to the top of the world. That put an end to that dream for Amundsen…but the bottom of the world was still waiting.

10. Fairweather Friends

Amundsen maybe wouldn’t have given up on his North Pole expedition, but his funding disappeared. The people who had been willing to support the journey suddenly backed out when they discovered he wouldn’t be the first man to get there. Although Amundsen had explained there was still scientific value to the expedition, they had only been willing to finance his voyage if he had a chance to be the first.

I’m sure it didn’t take much thinking for him to realize a way to keep his funding…

11. Critically Speaking

Not everyone was excited about Amundsen joining the race to the South Pole. Robert Falcon Scott had already started out for the Pole when he got a telegraph from Amundsen to let him know he was on his way there as well. In fact, Amundsen faced a lot of criticism for making his expedition a race against Scott. It does seem a little…ungentlemanly.

12. Big Win and a Loss

Amundsen reached the South Pole first, making it there on December 14, 1911. A little over a month later, on January 18, 1912, Scott’s team limped over the finish line, only to discover they’d lost. However, there’s another key difference in the two expeditions: Amundsen made it back to his ship alive, while Scott’s entire crew perished on the return journey.

13. How it Happened

So why did Amundsen succeed where Scott failed? A big factor was their equipment. Amundsen used lighter sleds, more appropriate clothing, and skis to reach the South Pole. He used the knowledge he had gained from the Inuit he had met during a previous expedition, and it all worked out to his advantage. Scott, on the other hand, relied on poorly-suited ponies and unreliable motorized sleds, and paid the ultimate price for his mistake.

14. The Details

The journey to the South Pole was no leisurely stroll through the snow. From Amundsen’s base camp on the Ross Ice Shelf, it took him and his crew of four men, with four sleds and 52 dogs, two agonizing months to get to the South Pole. They returned to base camp another month later with no human casualties, but only 11 dogs remaining.

15. Antarctic Twist

In an ironic twist, though Amundsen won the race to the South Pole, the public viewed Scott as the more heroic figure. His journey and sacrifice were praised and his diaries with entries about struggle, commitment and bravery caught the world’s imagination. He was put on a pedestal and idolized—while the sneaky Amundsen was thrown under the bus.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking