Travel to Polar Regions

The Coldest March: Scott's Fatal Antarctic Expedition

Format: Paperback
Author: Susan Solomon
ReleaseDate: December, 2002
Publisher: Yale University Press
Rating:

Focus on weather doesn't tell the whole story
This one doesn't add quite enough. I've read several books on this subject.

What's important to note is that Scott's expedition was not considered a failure at the time. His primary goal, unlike Amundsen, was to gather scientific data, not reach the pole first. Amundsen traveled fast and light; Scott put scientific discovery first. Among other achievements, the rock fossils his men gathered later contributed to proving plate tectonics.

While Solomon's weather information is fascinating, the book "Captain Scott" by Ranulph Fiennes covers absolutely everything that was a factor, including the hellish weather. Fiennes even crossed the Antarctic using Scott's methods.

Fiennes was moved to undertake his dangerous mission by "The Last Place on Earth," which he viewed as a slander of Scott's achievements. A British court agreed; the author of "The Last Place on Earth" was ordered to pay damages to Scott's son.

Fiennes gives detailed background on all of Scott's decisions, including what is seen as one of his greatest errors, using ponies instead of dogs.

Although the book "The Last Place on Earth" was found to be slander, the drama by the same name, available on DVD, is a fine piece of film making with excellent performances. Don't take it as gospel, though.

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Cold, yes, but...
Scott's lack of provisions, inadequate marking of depots, splitting of teams, depoting of ski and evaporation of stored fuel are not the only problems with his journey. Solomon's is a well-written book that begs the question: How many ways are there to say that it is cold in winter at Antarctica?

Solomon builds a molehill of meteorological data that pales in comparison to mountains of other evidence.

Scott apologists lay the journey's failure and death of the party on the bad weather encountered at the end. They fail to note that 2 companions had already died by the last encampment and the last (Evans) party barely made it back 3 weeks earlier (for the same reasons listed above).

The sheer fact of the matter is, that on a journey of over FOUR MONTHS, Scott had barely FOUR DAYS of extra rations for a job requiring 5000 calories per man per day.

A 3% margin of error in the coldest, windiest, least hospitable corner of the globe is hoping on more than luck.

This is not the place to take chances
" Huntford carefully explains why the lesser-known Amundsen deserves praise while Scott pretty much kills himself. Susan Solomon's book on the ill-fated Scott expedition of 1911-1912 tries to refute the Scott bashing in Roland Huntford's superior book, "The Last Place on Earth. Solomon describes Scott as a "bumbler"- someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence. But her title and thesis is- it was the weather's fault. Inspector Clouseau was a bumbler. Scott's "preparation and leadership" cost him and all his men their lives.

The best part of Solomon's book is her make-believe Antarctic visitor. One evening he watches the television serial "The Last Place on Earth" based on Huntford's book. She even quotes from it, "Any man who sits in his tent in the Antarctic and whines about the weather is not fit to lead. " She then explains it was very cold. She should have kept quoting the film because it has many great quotes she didn't use; allow me to recite just a few. "Men die; cattle die; I thyself shall die; one thing I know shall never die- Judgment over the Dead". Hello Susan.

In Scott's group, Meares says, "I took a trip across Siberia a journey of 2,000 miles, taught me many things, but chiefly I learned the narrowness of the line that man walks in nature between farce and tragedy, a lesson the Norwegians have learned on sea, on ice and mountain; it is a lesson Scott and his kind will never learn. " I don't know if Mr. Meares said this but his case is stronger than Solomon's.

Finally, the most eloquent for last. Amundsen warns his men to lay out markers an additional 2 miles in both directions of a depot. "Two miles?" they ask. "Yes" replies Amundsen, "This is not the place to take chances. "

If Susan Solomon wants to blame the weather, okay, but perhaps she has been breathing the ozone too long.

Related products:
click image or link for details on these Polar Regions travel books.

	The Worst Journey in the World
	Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen: Ambition and Tragedy in the Antarctic