Improving Conditions Give Norwegians A Good Start

Finally, with signs of spring conditions and slightly warmer temperatures around them, Amundsen and his party departed Framheim with fifty-two dogs on October 19.

(Actually, it was October 18; Amundsen was off by one day because he had not made an allowance for Fram's crossing the International Date Line. Dates quoted in these sections should be mentally corrected by one day in the same way.) By October 24, fast sledging with dogs in top condition had enabled Amundsen to get a 150-mile (240 km) head start over Scott, who was still a week away from leaving on his own course to the South Pole.