📚: The Last Viking, Stephen Bown: Quotes: Preparation
Interesting to read about how much Amundsen had prepared (the text goes further into detail):
He had spent countless hours in his study, doing the paperwork, sketching various scenarios, adding the figures, all the while attempting to account for erratic weather and other potential delays. Amundsen had enough imagination and experience to take into account all the possible setbacks that he might encounter. By studying the successes and failures of previous expeditions, scrutinizing their use of equipment and drawing heavily on his own Arctic experiences, he gained expertise and confidence. If the devil is truly in the details, as the saying goes, then Amundsen could indeed have been said to be besting the devil; every conceivable detail had been pondered, multiple calculations performed and solutions decided upon. He had left little to chance.
[…]
Amundsen was obsessive and finicky to an extent that under other circumstances would seem ridiculous.
(Page 140)