Last Updated on April 30, 2025 by Matt Staff
Far from civilization, at the bottom of the world, small groups of explorers set out to challenge one of Earth’s last great frontiers. Between the early 1900s and the late 1970s, the Antarctic drew adventurers with a mix of ambition, curiosity, and grit. This period, often called the Antarctic Age, saw men face bitter cold, unending ice, and months of darkness, all in the name of discovery.
They crossed frozen seas in ships and hauled heavy gear across blizzards and crevasses, armed with little more than wool clothing and determination. The main way of travel was by dog sled, meaning human lives depended on dogs. Despite the hardships, they captured stunning images of a landscape few had seen before, and fewer would survive to describe. Here are 20 shots from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration.
1. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Those boys got lucky, but they have quite a precarious situation.
2. An early 1900s team of Antarctic explorers
From left to right: George H. S. Dovers, cartographer; Sydney E. Jones, medical officer; Charles Archibald Brookes Hoadley, geologist.
3. Riding a snowmobile in Antarctica, 1967
That snowmobile doesn’t look very aerodynamic.
4. Showing some love to the sled dogs, 1960
Did you know there was a treaty that banned dogs from Antarctica in 1992? They banned them because of canine diseases affecting wildlife.
5. Running with the dogs, 1977
Those dogs are the only thing keeping him alive.
6. Antarctica in 1955
His shirt isn’t even buttoned all the way. What a legend.
7. A U.S. Navy soldier in Operation Deep Freeze
He went to Antarctica on the icebreaker USS Glacier.
8. Members from the Australian Antarctic Exhibition, 1912
Unfortunately, only one of those three men made it home from this trip.
9. This man fell into a crevasse and needed to get himself out
That’s quite the slippery situation.
10. When the weather is bad in Antarctica
Your face will look like this in just minutes.
11. From the Terra Nova expedition, 1911
There were many objectives from the Terra Nova Expedition, but the main mission was just to explore the South Pole.
12. Irish seaman Thomas Crean, 1915
This photograph was taken aboard the Endurance during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. The expedition lasted from 1914 to 1917.
13. French scientists from the Charcot Expedition
They’re taking a break and drinking some champagne to celebrate their arrival, 1904.
14. Gilbert Kerr playing the bagpipe for a penguin
This was taken during the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in 1904, and it looks like the penguin is enjoying it.
15. Breaking into the baked beans, 1910
This man was a member of Captain Scott’s Antarctic Expedition.
16. Celebrating Midwinter’s Day at the Cape Evans Hut in Antarctica
Five people in this photo would perish on the return journey home.
17. Roald Amundsen, the first person to reach the South Pole
He was a Norwegian explorer who made it there in 1911, this photo was taken in 1912.
18. If it weren’t for the cold, I’d spend all day here
I wonder if he actually hung out here for a while or just did it for the photo.
19. The endurance crew playing football in Antarctica, 1910s
I wonder what it’s like to play in the freezing cold on ice.
20. This is what the inside of a camp in Antarctica looks like
Imagine being stuck in such a confined space for so long.
Want more survival stories and vintage adventure?
See the frontier from another angle in 30 Vintage Photos Showing Life on the American Frontier (1860–1920), meet the outlaws and lawmen of 17 Photos From the Last Days of the Wild West (1880–1910), or explore forgotten hardships in 17 Striking Photos of New York’s Five Points Slum (1880s–1900s).
