Traversing the Ice
In addition to man-hauling, there were three means by which to transport heavy sledges across
Antarctica’s frozen terrain, namely, ponies, dogs, or internal combustion engines (Panama Pacific
International Exposition, 1915). Although Shackleton’s 1908 journey to South Pole was not
successful, he found ponies to be effective for negotiating Antarctica’s many crevasses. With
some frustration, however, he observed that their hooves often broke through patches of thin ice
(Ponting, 1975). Scott’s first inland expedition of 1902 was assisted by dogs. Although dogs
were great companions, they proved to be practically useless on the return trip and could barely
stagger eight miles per day (Taylor, 1930). Accordingly, Scott placed little reliance on dogs and
resorted to man-hauling the sledges over the ice and snow. Furthermore, Scott was the first to
experiment with balloons and motorized sledges. The challenge with these modes of
transportation, however, was fuel evaporation (Panama Pacific International Exposition, 1915).
However, designing a successful expedition involved numerous small decisions beyond just
transportation, from charting and scheduling a course to selecting appropriate food, clothing, and
shelter, not to mention equipment and supplies. The list below provides only a small sample of
some of the items that were available to the explorers as options.