Sell Us Beer Revisited

But go out on the great ice field of the Arctic, out of sight of land, and any man's chances of "living off the country" are just about equal to his chances of finding a gold mine on the top of an iceberg.
It is difficult for men living in comfort in civilized countries to realize the harshness of the Arctic, so the "friendly Arctic" has given to many an entirely wrong impression of the care, experience, equipment, and planning necessary to merely stay alive in the far North. I have had men express astonishment at the elaborate preparations made by me to carry abundant food in concentrated form for use on my expeditions. They have been led to believe that a march to the North Pole is little more than a light-hearted hunting expedition, upon which one leisurely advances across the ice, stopping occasionally to kill something to eat and wandering on his way with no cares about tomorrow's food.
--Roald Amundsen