Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

After arriving in 1955 and leaving eight men to establish Shackleton Base as their starting point on the Weddell Sea, Fuchs returned in 1956 to consolidate supplies and prepare for the crossing. In November 1957, he set out with a twelve man team who used six vehicles for their journey. At the same time, Sir Edmund Hillary had set up Scott's Base on the Ross Sea as the final destination of the expedition. He laid a path for the second half of Fuchs's journey, leaving caches of supplies along the way. Fuchs's team arrived at the South Pole on 19 January 1958. Continuing from here, they completed their crossing on 2 March 1958. This was the first expedition to reach the South Pole overland since Scott in 1912. During the crossing, the participants took seismic soundings and gravimetric readings, while parts of Hillary's team undertook geological surveys around the Ross Sea.