At age 21 on the passing of both of his parents he gave up medical study and concentrated his efforts on exploring the northern polar regions. Amundsen noted that many previous expeditions had failed due to the inexperience of the teams carrying them out. He therefore set about becoming a qualified sailor and in a harrowing expedition to the Antarctica aboard the ship Belgica proved himself to be a highly capable and skilled leader when the captain and crew fell ill.

TIn preparation for a great expedition to the north he studied Earth magnetism in Hamburg, and decided to search for both the magnetic north pole as well as search for the Northwest Passage. Amundsen left Norway in June 1903 for this Arctic expedition, where he took myriads of important magnetic readings before finally sailing westward again, successfully navigating the Northwest Passage by the end of 1905. Amundsen began to make plans to lead an expedition to find the North Pole and be the first men to do so. These plans were abruptly shattered when it was revealed that the American Peary had reached the pole himself in April of 1909. Upon hearing this Amundsen instead set his sights on the South Pole and succeeded as the first man to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911.

Amundsen's polar explorations continued in the north, where his true interest lay. He was involved in a number of subsequent expeditions which were largely unsuccessful, particularly with his new ship Maud which was trapped in ice twice--once for more than two years and once for more than three. Still, the geophysical data collected made the Maud voyages known as some of the most significant ever undertaken in the Arctic.

Amundsen saw value in the use of the airplane, which he used in later expeditions with success. Amundsen crossed the Arctic in a dirigible--the Norge--the first time men had flown between Europe and the United States. Another dirigible, the Italia, piloted by former shipmate Unberto Nobile was subsequently lost in the Arctic attempting to duplicate the feat. Despite public animosity between the two, Amundsen immediately volunteered to lead the rescue effort and set out to find the lost dirigible. It was found on June 22, 1928, largely due to the efforts of the Russian polar ice breaker Krassin, then the largest extant. Strangely, shortly following his take off after the rescue, Amundsen's plane was lost and he was never heard from again. A great man and polar explorer.

Roald Amundsen primarily wished to explore the northern polar regions. However, in the summer of 1909 when news of the reaching of the North Pole by the American Peary reached his, he continued his expedition plans undaunted by switching his target to the South Pole. This fact he kept secret until his ship, the Fram, reached Madeira where he cabled adversary Robert Falcon Scott in New Zealand with his famous telegram "AM GOING SOUTH--AMUNDSEN".

Amundsen dropped anchor in Antarctica in January of 1911, beginning his assault on the pole on October 19, 1911. Amundsen heavily favored the use of dogs rather than men or machines to pull sledges. He brought with him close to 100 sled dogs with a dual purpose. The use of the dogs was carefully calculated by Amundsen to provide maximum hauling strength and to provide a source of food for the other dogs, to the point of actually planning in advance the date of each dog's demise for the greater good. Amundsen, later criticized for this perceived barbaric behaviour is reported to have said, "That's the trouble with you Englishmen. You treat your dogs like gentlemen and your gentlemen like dogs"! Amundsen's team set off with four sledges, each pulled by 13 dogs.

Amundsen's trek started at the Bay of Whales, closer to the pole by 0 miles than Scott's base at Cape Evans. The trip was of course taxing to Amundsen and his team, however his plans were proven to be sound when the South Pole was reached by his team on December 14, 1911. The Norwegian flag was raised and a letter for King Haakon VII left at the site. When R.F. Scott reached the pole roughly one month later he was outraged at the audacity of Amundsen to leave this letter for him to take to the Norwegian king. Scholars of course now believe that this tactic was merely to ensure that word of the discovery reached the outside world in the event that Amundsen himself never made it back.

Amundsen did make it back, while his adversary Scott and his team paid the ultimate price. Amundsen's choice of dogs seemed the better one compared to Scott's choice of motorized machinery and ponies.The ponies were found to be totally unsuitable for the Antarctic climate and did not perform well in the deep snow. Further, the motorized machinery broke down and in the end Scott and his team were obliged to assume the sledging duties unaided. Earlier attempts at the pole had been made using manpower alone, but of course they were unsuccessful--a lesson that Scott and his team failed to take notice of.

Amundsen's team had well planned supply depots laid along his route. Scott's team of course had done the same, but due to bad weather had been unable to lay them to their fullest advantage. This error would prove to haunt Scott as he and his team succumbed scarcely a day's travel from the next depot. Had this depot been properly placed, the men would have reached it in time. Today the station at the South Pole bears both their names, Amundsen-Scott Station.

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