1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Antarctic Plateau, Antarctica

It was not originally intended that Hillary would travel as far as the South Pole, but when he had completed laying supply depots he saw the opportunity to beat the British and continued south, reaching the Pole – where the US Amundsen-Scott Station had recently been established by air – on January 3, 1958. Hillary's party was just the third (preceded by Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912) to reach the Pole overland. Hillary's arrival also marked the first time that land vehicles had ever reached the Pole.
Fuchs' team reached the Pole from the opposite direction on 19 January 1958, where they met up with Hillary. Fuchs then continued overland, following the route that Hillary had laid, while Hillary flew back to Scott Base in a US plane (he would later rejoin Fuchs by plane for part of the remaining overland journey). The overland party finally arrived at Scott Base on March 2, 1958, having completed the historic crossing of 3,473 km (2,158 miles) of previously unexplored snow and ice in 99 days. A few days later the expedition members left Antarctica for New Zealand on the New Zealand naval ship Endeavour. The ship was captained by Harry Kirkwood.
Although large quantities of supplies were hauled overland, both parties were also equipped with light aircraft and made extensive use of air support for reconnaissance and supply depoting. Additional logistical help was provided by US personnel who were working in Antarctica at that time. Both parties also took dog teams which were used for field work trips and backup in case of failure of the mechanical transportation – though the dogs were not taken all the way to the Pole. In December 1957 four men from the expedition flew one of the planes – a de Havilland Canada Otter – on an eleven hour, 1,430-mile (2,300 km) non-stop trans-polar flight across the Antarctic continent from Shackleton Base via the Pole to Scott Base, following roughly the same route as Fuchs' overland party.