Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
82
Figure 3.10. Mawson's map
of the Terra Nova Bay area
shows the route taken by
David's party along the
coast and up onto the
plateau en route to the
Magnetic South Pole. Note
the pointed aspect of the
Drygalski Ice Tongue in
1908, compared with the
square end of recent years
(See Fig. 1.13).
Gauss a little more than four thousand feet. Behind this front range the explorers could
make out several low-relief tiers of mountains rising back to the polar plateau, but the
highest barely stood out against the ice.
Crossing between the Nordenskjold and Drygalski Ice Tongues over varied sea ice
took a little more than a fortnight. The men had decided an end run of the Drygalski
would be too much time lost, so they attempted a direct crossing. The first try failed
(December 1, 1908, Fig. 3.10). The party managed only a half-mile the first day onto an
increasingly hummocky surface of blue ice, with patches of high sastrugi and chasms that
dropped deep into the ice tongue. After a reconnaissance on foot, they decided that it
would be useless to attempt a crossing, so they retreated back to the sea ice and began to
pull toward the end of the tongue. A valley into the glacier tongue soon opened, however,
and after a day of reconnaissance, they chose it as a possible route across.
