Ep. 21. Roald Amundsen: Quiet Conqueror of the Polar Regions

This is a story about a little known, yet much misunderstood hero. But more than that it is also a story about a clash of philosophies, the dawn of a new era; a young nation, and a once mighty one - both in their own way experiencing an identity crisis.
In 1912, a young Norwegian explorer called Roald Amundsen reached the south Geographic Pole in a slick, clinical, sportsmanlike operation, having recently also been the first man to sail through the fabled North-West Passage on the other side of the globe. In doing so, he eclipsed a massive, lavishly funded, British polar expedition which was characterised by poor organisation, incompetent leadership and gross negligence that led to tragic suffering and loss of life.
What followed in Britain was nothing less than a public cover-up, and whitewashing of their own expedition’s failures. Amundsen was characterised as a usurper and glory seeker, such that his reputation suffered even in his own fledgling nation of Norway. Undeterred, he would nevertheless push on with his polar ambitions, pioneering technology and protocols that saw him become the first explorer to reach both the north and south poles, the first to fly a plane beyond the arctic circle and even the first to fly an airship over the North Pole.
A very private and driven man unused to public life or promotional spin, his serious and reserved nature won him few friends, while his unromantic writing style and matter of fact lectures hardly fired the popular imagination, hungry as they were for swashbuckling heroics and adventure; such that his stature has been overshadowed by the likes of Scott and Shackleton.
In recent decades, a more sober reflection on what we now call the Heroic age of Polar exploration has begun to restore Amundsen to his pre-eminent position as the greatest of all Polar explorers. He was a man who spent years among the Netsilik Eskimo, studying their survival skills in minute detail, while astutely observing their culture with the greatest admiration and respect; pragmatically and successfully adopting their stone age wisdom while also embracing cutting edge technology. He was a man ahead of his time, yet was wise enough to apply the skills of the ancient ways in attaining his arctic goals.
Join us as we dive into the life and times of Roald Amundsen, quiet conqueror of the earth’s Polar regions.
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