And the Expeditionary Lessons to be Learned From This
“Adventure is just bad planning.”
Roald Amundsen, Leader of first expedition to reach the South Pole
Roald Amundsen and his team from Norway were the first to reach the South Pole on January 17th, 1912 after traveling 56 days to cover 1380 km. They used sled dogs and traveled on skis. A month later, the British team reached the South Pole after traveling 79 days and 1500 km. The Norwegian team made it back to their base on the Antarctic coast in 43 days, while the British team perished on their return trip, only 40 km from the safety, food and shelter of a large return depot.
This short essay is an attempt to understand why one expedition succeeded in a way that seems almost effortless, while the other ended in disaster. What are the lessons to be learned by expeditionary leaders planning their own journeys?
Key Points
Imagine and then plan for worst case scenarios.
The most important skill for explorers and expedition leaders is imagination. Specifically, imagination about what could go catastrophically wrong and the absolute worst conditions you expect to encounter on the journey. Then your imagination must in turn be used to come up with creative solutions to handle worst case events and conditions. In particular, reserves of food, fuel and equipment must be brought along to provide the necessary hedge against calamity.
The South Pole acted as a centrifuge. The two men revealed their true characters in this extreme environment. Amundsen had assumed that anything that could go wrong would go wrong. He over prepared in training. He was disciplined in preparation. He brought more supplies than needed. He assumed he would be hit by weather he could not predict (after all no human had ever ventured there). Scott, for instance, did not put black flags around his depots. He assumed he would be able to find them. And whereas Scott brought a single thermometer for a critical altitude measurement device, Amundsen brought five. Scott’s broke and he almost attacked a team member in fury. In every possible and impossible scenario Amundsen was ready for anything. Due to Amundsen’s training and preparation and discipline, he flourished; due to Scott’s lack of both, he died.
K. Barbera, in The Ascent
Small, skilled team of experts versus larger team.
For the journey to the pole, Scott’s team had 17 members versus 5 total for Amundsen. Amundsen’s smaller team consisted of strong, athletic men with navigation, skiing, and dog handling skills. Amundsen’s team were all experienced skiers (from childhood) and 4 were expert navigators. They kept the daily mileage lower than the maximum possible for 75% of the journey, and spent up to 16 hours a day resting, a shrewd strategy to get the most out of their dogs.
Gear matters.
Amundsen followed the Inuit example and used fur loosely fitted versus Scott’s team’s use of wool and rubber clothing. Amundsen’s team was comfortable throughout their journey. Scott’s team was often cold.
Amundsen sleds did not have to be unloaded each stop. Gear could be accessed easily from canisters without unloading. Scott’s teams had to unload and then reload the sledges each day to obtain the gear and food they needed.
Amundsen’s team had issues with their boots but fixed them after observing these problems during several short trips early in their expedition. Their adjusted boots performed well during the trip to the Pole and back. Short “test” trips that simulate the longer trip is a low cost, low risk, high return practice that lets you find and correct problems that might provide fatal or catastrophic on the full expedition.
Mobility and speed versus weight.
Amundsen’s team used only dogs, whereas Scott attempted to uses heavier ponies and motor sledges in addition to dogs. The ponies required food brought in on ships, and the motor sledges simply could not handle the cold weather in Antartica. Amundsen used the simple and light sextant for navigation, and pre-calculated the numbers he needed while navigating. Scott used the heavier theodolite which required complex calculations during travel, when the men might be exhausted or distracted by conditions.
Know your location at all times.
Both Scott and Amundsen left food and fuel at predetermined points on their way to the pole. These supplies were then used on the return journey. Amundsen placed a large black flag on top of each depot, more closely spaced these depots than Scott, and also placed bamboo flags on either side of the depot for five miles. This insured Amundsen could easily find the food and fuel he needed on the return journey.
Learn how the natives adapt to the environment, and follow their lead.
Amundsen relied on the experience of the Inuit and other explorers who had arctic and antarctic experience. This is one reason he preferred dogs over ponies, which were not native to the arctic. In addition, dogs could be eaten for food. Amundsen’s team left for the Pole with 52 dogs and returned with 11, the dogs being eaten along the way as the loads to be pulled lessened. Dogs could also be fed from local sources, including seals and penguins, ideal food for sledge dogs.
Amundsen outfitted his team with fur anoraks fitted loosely, exactly how native Eskimos did. This allows sweat to evaporate from the body before it freezes.
Scott’s team suffered regularly from snow blindness and sometimes this affected over half the team at any one time. By contrast, there was no recorded case of snow blindness during the whole of Amundsen’s expedition. On the return journey, Amundsen’s team rested during the “day” (when the sun was in front of them) and travelled during the “night” (when the sun was behind them) to minimise the effects of snow blindness.
Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World
Hard training under conditions similar to the actual expedition.
Amundsen trained himself and his men rigorously and spent a lot of time in the arctic and antarctic understanding conditions there, how the Eskimos lived and thrived there, and practicing the techniques necessary to succeed in such harsh conditions.
In physical training Amundsen had prepared like a maniac. He took every opportunity to push his limits past the extreme. HIs philosophy of life and adventure was “you don’t wait until you’re in an unexpected storm to discover that you need more strength and endurance.”
K. Barbera, in The Ascent
Emphasize experience over formal leadership roles.
Few of Scott’s men had experience under extreme antarctic conditions, nor were they trained or experienced in skiing or dog handling. Scott spent most of his transport budget on the three motor sledges, but one sank while being offloaded from the ship, and the other two failed early in the expedition. The engineer who had designed and built these sledges was left behind because the officer who was second-in-command didn’t want the more senior engineer brought on the expedition. Thus, the engineer’s experience, and the potential to fix the motor sledges,was lost to the expedition.
In general Scott failed to listen to more experienced explorers or follow the example of the Inuit, who had survived in arctic conditions for centuries. Yet his antarctic experience was limited to two prior expeditions, and he had spent most of his career in the British Navy as a gunnery officer.
Be perfectionistic and pessimistic in planning, flexible in execution.
His experience — and that of others — taught him that successful explorers are cautious. They remain flexible, and are ready to adapt targets and plans in light of conditions. When conditions are not right, it is better to turn back rather than rely on hope and luck. He believed that bad luck is often the result of insufficient preparation.
K. Sengupta and L. Van der Hyden, Harvard Business Review
For example, food rations for Scott’s team were inadequate and lacked vitamins B and C. Lack of fuel also meant they could not cook all the time. Fuel canisters were found to be prone to leaks, something Amundsen anticipated and prevented by soldering them shut. Amundsen also started closer to the pole, from a better starting position that avoided sea ice and its complications.
Amundsen aborted his first attempted at the South Pole in September 2011. The weather and conditions made the trip to dangerous so Amundsen aborted this first attempt, even though his team pressured him to go given that Scott might get underway at any moment.
Scott’s team fought back against the harsh conditions and extreme events with courage and resilience. They did their best under very difficult circumstances, and nearly made it to safety. Without the courage and willingness to attempt the journey that they exemplified, men could no longer explore or discover.
Victory waits him who has everything in order — luck people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck.
— Roald Amundsen