Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
121
Figure 4.12. Shackleton
mapped the mountains
surrounding Beardmore
Glacier and his route along
it. Note the side route to
Mount Hope from the
“3.2.08” [
sic
] campsite and
compare with Fig. 4.9. By
all accounts Shackleton's
party held close to the
western margin of Beard-
more Glacier for most
of the ascent. This map
depicts the campsites as
close to midstream, prob-
ably license taken by the
cartographer, eric Marshall,
who was not a member of
the polar party and worked
from their sightings.
that ran to the east of it were of a remarkable height. The highest summit at the west side
of the cirque was surveyed by Marshall at 14,624 feet. Named Mount Kirkpatrick for one
of the early supporters of the expedition, this is now known to be the highest point in the
Transantarctic Mountains, with an elevation of 14,856 feet.
The camp on December 16 was a few miles downstream of a three-peaked island that
split the western side of the glacier. There the party planned to depot four days' worth of
food and any extra clothing that they were not wearing, to make their final dash for the
pole. It seemed that here at last the glacier would meld into the plateau. The mountains
