Few lands are less hospitable to human life than the Antarctic: with an average temperature in February in the minus 40s, and dropping rapidly, little wonder why it remains largely unexplored to this day. Any successful human operation on the continent is considered a success; and one of those celebrated operations, completed by a combined British-New Zealand crew, gave scientists an expanded understanding of the conditions on the ground in the early winter of the South Pole.On this day, March 2, in 1958, a British expedition led by Dr. Vivian “Bunny” Fuchs, accompanied by a New Zealand team of 18 that prepared supply depots along the way, arrived at the New Zealander’s camp, completing the world’s first crossing of the Antarctic entirely by land.

A 1958 documentary, Antarcitc Crossing, that was taken from the footage shot by Fuchs, portrayed the dangers faced by the expedition team. Despite following a prelaid route on specialized motor cars, they were facing often white-out conditions, losing not only sight of their path, but radio contact with the outside world. Several times they received outside help: once, an emergency airdrop of oxygen for a member of the team who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning; and another time when two of the vehicles fell into a crevasse.