 Robert Falcon Scott s doomed attempt to be first to the South Pole became a race against his Norwegian rival Roald Amundsen. When Scott and his exhausted men arrived at the pole, Amundsen s flag was already in place, and before Scott and his team lay only starvation and death. Scott had been handpicked at the early age of nineteen as a man suitable to lead a British polar exploration. On his fateful second journey, Scott made decisions which involved taking great risks, and these still cause controversy today.