Google Doodle hails 105th year of South Pole conquest

Mumbai, Dec 14: Google on Wednesday saluted the 105th anniversary of the great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s Antarctica expedition and conquest of the South Pole with a special Doodle dedicated to his epic journey on December 14, 1911. Amundsen’s expedition comprised just 19 people and nearly 100 Greenland sled dogs, who along with the use of skis to cross treacherous terrain, were key to the team’s success. Known as the ‘last of the Vikings’, the 39-year old Amundsen had raced another British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and left his party behind by five weeks to reach the icy-cold ‘bottom’ of the world that day. Amundsen, along with Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting erected a tent at Polheim and hoisted the flag of Norway, and at the bottom of the tent marked it ‘Fram’, the polar exploration ship on which the expedition was carried out.  (IANS)