Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
88
particular the interior of northern Victoria Land and the two major dry valleys (Wright
and Victoria) to the north of the Taylor, would not be mapped before the advent of aerial
photography and the wave of ground parties that spread throughout the Transantarctic
Mountains following the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958).
The first of the Ter ra No va parties included GriYth Taylor (geologist and leader),
Frank Debenham (geologist), Charles Wright (physicist), and Edgar Evans (petty oYcer
and a member of Scott's 1902-1904 expedition). In January 1911 this party man-hauled up
Ferrar Glacier and down into Taylor Valley, reaching a point on the eastern side of Nuss-
baum Riegel, where they could see the ocean. From their farthest point near the mouth
of the valley, they were able to survey local landmarks and tie them back to Ross Island.
From there they retraced their route back to the head of Taylor Valley, where they deter-
mined correctly that, of the four glacier arms, the western arm that Armitage and Scott
had taken to the interior was the head of Taylor Glacier, and the southern arm was the
head of the Ferrar Glacier, with the two glaciers shouldering each other in the broad névé
to the south of Knobhead before turning 90° and flowing down their respective valleys
(see Fig. 2.10). On their way to Blue Glacier via the Ferrar, they chose to bypass Descent
Glacier, an experience that Evans, a member of the Armitage A team, was not eager to
repeat. From the mouth of Ferrar Glacier, the party explored the upper reaches of Blue
Figure 3.13. Taylor's map of
the Granite harbour area
plots the route taken by
the party as it man-hauled
along the piedmont glacier
and climbed Mackay Gla-
cier to Mount Suess.
