[rohry]

Talk about a guy who made every mistake in the book.

Actually, I you're thinking of Scott and his ill-fated trip. This expedition was later and the goal was to cross the entire Antarctic continent, not go to the South Pole. They had dogs (no horses) and there are some 90 year-old films showing them taking care of them (apparantly they were susceptible to sea-sickness).

Imagine a year and a half living in those conditions with no loss of life!

[LS]

You're right, although didn't Shackleton take ponies on his failed first trip to the South Pole? Isn't that where he learned they didn't work? I could be wrong---after a while, the expeditions tend to get blurred. Scott, as I recall, also took some early snowmobiles that failed.

[LS]

Yeah, I was thinking of Scott, although Shackleton did continue when he was warned the ice was worse than ever. However, once the ship sank, he proved to be a remarkable leader, and getting all 27 guys back was an unbelievable feat.

Scott was the one who had "snowmobiles" that broke, horses that died, didn't have enough food stashed, then had the really bad luck of getting caught in a blizzard not too far from a food cache.