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Subscribe to RSSOSLO, Norway -- Roald Amundsen's feat of reaching the South Pole on skis 100 years ago is proving a tough act to follow for polar adventurers trying to get there in time to celebrate the centennial of the Norwegian pioneer's expedition.
Fierce, icy winds have delayed some of the teams skiing across Antarctica with the aim of reaching the geographic South Pole for the anniversary celebration on Wednesday. Some explorers gave up and were picked up by airplane so they could make it in time for the ceremony, according to their blogs and the Norwegian Polar Institute.
Others including Norwegian cross-country great Vegard Ulvang and adventurer Boerge Ousland were still hoping to make it.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Stoltenberg flew to Antarctica on Monday to attend the ceremony, calling Amundsen's accomplishment "a great and important achievement for Norway as a young nation." Norway became independent in 1905 after nearly 100 years in a union with Sweden.
On Dec. 14, 1911, Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole, beating Robert Falcon Scott, a Briton. Scott and four companions reached the pole the following month but died on the way out.
Norwegian Polar Institute director Jan-Gunnar Winther was among those who didn't make it all the way on skis to the South Pole and flew the last stretch to get there in time for the anniversary.
So did Norwegian adventurer Asle Johansen, who had hoped to complete the trek with the same early 20th-century equipment that Amundsen did.
Felicity Aston of Britain, who is trying to become the first woman to cross Antarctica alone, will miss the centennial and now expects to arrive about a week later.
"It's a bit of a shame because originally I was hoping to arrive by the 14th ... and I hear there's going to be a bit of a party, but unfortunately I'll still be out here skiing, so I'm going to miss the party," Aston told The Associated Press in an interview by satellite phone last week.
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Pussies...
It must be nice to have nothing better to do with your life than to walk across a freezing ice cap risking life and limb just to say you did it...or insane.
You, sitting on the beach with your shark pussy, I'd like to see you do it.
You know Christopher Myers, with global warming, that might just be possible soon...
It is much colder there now then it was back then.
no it's warmer. remember global warming(it's a crock)...blah blah blah..
Well who's to say the guy that 'allegedly' did it first actually skied to the South Pole in the first place?
surely the reporters are mistaken........according to "everyone" it's been warming catastrophically around the world. This should have been a piece of cake for those explorers. /snark
They must have been listening to all the alarmists that keep claiming the ice is melting and the poles are heating up instead of checking the facts.
There has never been a melting problem in Antarctica. One little bit of land that juts way out from the rest of the continent (much closer to South America than the South Pole) experiences some melt from ocean water but the rest is frozen solid.
And even the Arctic ice is quickly recovering from the low extent in 2007. Every year since the ice has gotten bigger. In October the Arctic was refreezing 40% faster than the average. That's some quick freezing there. And the latest data shows the ice extent is very near the 30 year average. Which means it is back to normal.
I posted this last year.
Another polar rescue must send chills down spines of alarmists. Now the fourth year running that 'Warming Alarmists' have had to be rescued from expeditions to prove the Arctic is warmer than it actually is.
TOM Smitheringale wanted to prove the world was warming. Now he's another alarmist with frostbite. He wanted to see the North Pole while it was still there: "Some scientists have even estimated that the polar ice cap will have entirely melted away by 2014!" But Antarctica isn't melting away, and Arctic ice has slowly increased since its big low in 1997. But no one seems to have told Tom, who soon found his extremities freezing.
Two weeks ago he nearly called off his trek after suffering excruciating pain in his fingers and thumbs, forcing him to call in emergency help.
And last week he had to be rescued by Canadian soldiers after falling through the ice sheet.
"(I) came very close to the grave," he said, on being flown out.
"Explorers and educators" Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen said they were off on what reporters described as "a historic 75-day expedition to the North Pole and beyond to raise awareness of global warming's impact on the fragile Arctic".
It turned out that what was fragile was not the Arctic but the alarmists, who had to call off their big trip not long after it started, when Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold drained their batteries.
Explained a spokesman: "They were experiencing temperatures that weren't expected with global warming."
see http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/another-polar-rescue-must-send/story-e6frfhqf-1225856131380
Also china is experiencing sea ice in areas seldom seen in 5+decades... http://english.cctv.com/program/worldwidewatch/20100123/101186.shtml