In 1911, Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen led expeditions to Antarctica, both hoping to be first to the South Pole.

Amundsen’s crew left 20 days before Scott, using sled dogs.

Scott’s team took a different route, using motorized snow tractors, hoping to speed their passage.

After 77 days, Scott and his men finally reached the pole—only to find that Amundsen had beat them to it.

With great disappointment, they turned back to their ship … when disaster struck.

The temperature plummeted as the Antarctic winter arrived early.

In their journals, they recorded temperatures below -40o Fahrenheit.

Weather kept their base team from provisioning their return depots. Out of fuel, they had to pull sleds with their tents and gear.

In the extreme cold, the ice was no longer slippery—we talked about this in a previous EarthDate.

A layer of water less than one-billionth of a meter thick occurs on the surface of ice down to -36o Fahrenheit.

Below that, the water molecules become pinned to the ice and they no longer slip.

This meant that Scott’s sleds no longer slid, slowing their progress and doubling their exposure to the severe cold.

One by one, the men got frostbite and could no longer travel. Out of options, they made their last camp, wrote farewell letters, and waited for the end.

A trip cut tragically short by the not-so-slippery properties of ice.