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 U.S. Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station had recently been established by air—on 3 January 1958. Hillary's party was just the third—preceded by Roald Amundsen in 1911 and Robert Falcon Scott in 1912—to reach the Pole overland. Hillary's arrival also marked the first time that land vehicles had ever reached the Pole.