He arrived there on 14 December 1911, along with four other members of his expedition: Helmer Hanssen, Olav Bjaaland, Oscar Wisting, and Sverre Hassel.

Due to the historical disputes over the claims of polar explorers prior to Amundsen's expedition, particularly the competing claims of Frederick Cook and Robert Peary to have reached the North Pole first, Amundsen took special care in making his polar observations.

In his lecture on Surveying and Cartography at Cambridge University, Hinks put forward this theory when discussing the subject of determining positions near the Pole.

Each skier continued 10 miles (16 km) and erected a spare sledge runner with a black flag and note for Robert Falcon Scott when and if he arrived.

Since his theodolite had been damaged, observations were made with a sextant, the sun slowly circling the camp in 24 hours, and never setting.

From these calculations, Amundsen determined that their current position was approximately 5.5 miles (8.9 km) from the mathematical South Pole point.

When Amundsen's calculations were verified, it was found that his final camp lay within 2.3 km (2500 yards) of the mathematical South Pole.