December 14, 1911

Amundsen's South Pole expedition

Amundsen’s five-man party reaches the South Pole

All five men put their frostbitten hands on the same flagpole, so no single explorer could claim the planting for himself.

Five hands on one pole

At approximately 3 p.m. on 14 December 1911, Roald Amundsen halted the Norwegian polar party where its dead reckoning indicated it had reached the geographical South Pole. With him were Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting.

All five grasped the flagpole and planted the Norwegian flag together. Amundsen named the surrounding plateau for King Haakon VII.

After camp was erected that day, Hanssen killed the exhausted sled dog Helge; Amundsen recorded that the dog was then portioned out as food for the remaining dogs.

Arriving was not the same as knowing

The men understood that their instruments and reckoning could not establish the exact mathematical point immediately. That afternoon they traversed the vicinity, and systematic astronomical observations and further positioning work continued over the following days, including 24 hours of hourly observations at Polheim on 16–17 December.

The Polheim tent, the records and the letter for Robert Falcon Scott were left behind when the party departed on 17 December.

Accounts that put the flag, the tent and the letter in one moment are compressing three days.

Thirty-four days, and news that waited until March

Scott's party reached the Pole on 17 January 1912 — 34 elapsed days later, though some popular accounts say 35 by inclusive counting — and found the Norwegians' flag, tent and letter.

Amundsen called the Pole his main objective, but the wider Fram expedition also produced meteorological, geographical, geological, astronomical and oceanographic observations, so "focused solely on reaching the pole" overstates it.

The outside world did not learn of the success until Amundsen reached Hobart in March 1912.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date is secure. The principal qualification concerns position: Amundsen knew on December 14 that dead reckoning could not prove he stood on the exact mathematical point, so the party conducted systematic observations and traverses through December 17.
December 14 and January 17 are 34 elapsed days apart. Some popular accounts call Scott’s arrival 35 days later by inclusive counting.