In 1907, Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail aboard the Nimrod in his own attempt to reach the South Pole. He headed for the Ross Sea, hoping to traverse the Great Beardmore Glacier with ponies. Along with Jameson Adams, Frank Wild, and Eric Marshall, Shackleton made it to 88º23'S, a new record, but turned back 97 miles away from the Pole to ensure his men’s safety. In justifying his decision he wrote to his wife, "I thought you'd rather have a live donkey than a dead lion."

Also on the expedition, a group including geologist Sir Douglas Mawson marched 1,260-miles to the South Magnetic Pole and became the first to climb the Mount Erebus volcano. From December 1908 to February 1909, Shackleton and three others became the first to cross the Ross Ice Shelf, the Transantarctic Mountain Range (via the Beardmore Glacier), and the first to set foot on the South Polar Plateau.

Transantarctic Mountain Range