Thursday 16 Nov. [Actually November 15]Fine weather all day. Light SE’ly breeze –24° and absolutely clear. It nonetheless feels quite sharp in our faces, and we cannot avoid little spots of frostbite here and there.
The terrain has been rather undulating. Huge wave formations. In the trough of one of these we found a maze of huge crevasses and holes, but as these are so firmly drifted over there was no danger. A particularly high ridge in the barrier runs along the land, and it is so high, that from where we are now we can’t see much more than steep land and heights. We are now lying on the edge of a very deep depression, which we must cross early tomorrow to surmount a very high ridge. The bight to the S. gives the impression more and more of offering a good climb. We have now built our depot, similarly to the others, and taken the necessary bearings. The depot is marked by a large piece of garbardine towards the S. The dogs have become fairly ravenous now. Thus they ruthlessly attack all lashings and rope ends, so we shovel snow round the sledges. The skiing has been fine, as usual. Quite flat with a few sastrugi. This transcript comes from “Race for the South Pole - The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen” by Roland Huntford. It appears by courtesy of the author and The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. |
South Pole 1911–2011 is an informational outreach project run by the Norwegian Polar Institute
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