An Explorer in the Crucible of Ice

Another year, another biography of Robert Falcon Scott, as the struggle to dominate the interpretation of the controversial Antarctic explorerâ??s legacy continues. Roland Huntford first set the cat among the pigeons in 1979 with his â??Scott and Amundsenâ? (later reissued in the United States as â??The Last Place on Earthâ?). He comprehensively debunked Scottâ??s aura of sanctified self-sacrifice and revealed the inexperienced leader, unskilled in polar travel, and with a streak of optimistic recklessness that spelled death for him and his companions. So wide-ranging was this reappraisal that two decades passed before a counterrevolution was mounted. In 2001, the atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon (in â??The Coldest Marchâ?) provided convincing evidence that abnormally cold weather on Scottâ??s return journey from the pole played a significant role in his partyâ??s collapse, but she failed to see that his incompetence predated the last month of his life. Then in 2004 Ranulph Fiennes (â??Race to the Poleâ?) mounted a vigorous defense that, while including some unpleasant personal attacks on Huntford, was ultimately based on the idea that his own experience as a polar explorer made him almost the only person who could write authoritatively on the subject.