21 Living at the Bottom of the World
The establishment of a scientific station at the South Pole in November, 1956, by the United States Navy was an amazing, audacious, even Herculean, achievement. On October 31, Admiral George Dufek had become the first person to stand on the Pole since Scott’s party in 1912, yet work immediately began to build the base – called Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station– flying in a small group of men and then beginning a massive two-month airdrop of all their building materials and supplies.

22 Shoot the Huskies!
There was uproar, starting in New Zealand but rapidly spreading across the world when I wrote a piece for my newspaper disclosing that officialdom had decided the huskies should be shot, rather than returned to New Zealand.

23 Journey’s End
In the end, Fuchs’ journey from the South Pole to Scott Base, along the trail established by Hillary, was something of an anticlimax, even though they had to battle bitter cold, fierce winds, and feel cautiously through the many crevassed areas Hillary’s team had surveyed. It was precisely 1.47pm on March 2, 1958, when the four Sno-Cats rolled up the gentle rise to Scott Base and parked.

24 The Emperor Penguins’ Farewell
A school of emperor penguins swam around Endeavour as members of the British section of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, accompanied by Hillary, boarded on March 2, 1958. McMurdo Sound was freezing over, and they were leaving just in time. Twelve days later they sailed into Wellington to a tumultuous reception. More than a month on, they reached London where the Queen formally knighted Vivian Fuchs. The last great Antarctic adventure was over.