Like many modern adventurers, too often I've overlooked the accomplishments of early mechanized expeditions to Antarctica. Perhaps less notable as athletic feats, nonetheless these early tractor traverses, like expeditions during the Heroic Age, were not digitized nor aided by satellite technology. Without GPS or the satellite phones commonly used by both mechanized and non-mechanized expeditions today, these early explorers boldly headed across an imposing and little-known continent.
The goal of Shackleton’s 1914–17 Endurance or Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition was to complete the first crossing of the Antarctic Continent by traveling overland from the Weddell Sea to Ross Island via the South Pole. While Shackleton failed to even reach the continent when his ship became trapped and eventually crushed by ice, his vision of crossing Antarctica overland was fulfilled 41-years later by Dr. Vivian Fuchs and the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.
Similar to Shackleton, Fuchs had a Ross Island support team. Led by Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealander who had been knighted several years earlier by Queen Elizabeth II for being the first (along with Tenzing Norgay) to summit Mt. Everest, the support team was tasked with placing resupply depots for Fuchs journey north. Hillary's team utilized four English made Ferguson tractors.
South Pole, 1958
After placing the last depot, Hillary disobeyed orders and made a dash to the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station that had recently been established by air. Arriving 16-days before Fuchs, Hillary’s party was the first to travel overland to the South Pole since Captain Scott arrived in 1912.
Not unlike Scott being duped by a Norwegian, many back in London perceived that Fuchs had been duped by a New Zealander, though there exists no evidence of animosity between the two.
Under the leadership of British explorer Dr. Vivian Fuchs, the 1955-58 expedition completed the 2,158-mile crossing in 98-days utilizing four American-made Tucker Sno-Cats. Fuchs was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II later that year.
"... the endurance of every individual in a party is not only conditioned by personal factors, but also by community spirit - which is inevitably bound up with the leader's personality. Each leader is different - and will have a different approach to the problem. But whatever he does will have an overriding effect on the performance of his party - and therefore on the ultimate degree of their success."
No comments:
Post a Comment