Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
136
Figure 5.2. Hung with a
stratus ceiling, the eight
thousand-foot face of
Mount Fridtjof Nansen
looms in the shadows. As
Amundsen's and Gould's
parties approached the
mountains, this massif
materialized with a gran-
deur surpassing all others.
The following day the party ran twenty-three miles in a thick fog. On November
14 they reached 84° 40′ S. From there the mountains to the east appeared to arc around
even more and to trend oV to the northeast. The following day the men were building a
depot at 85° S, having traversed a series of troughs and swells in the ice, with the moun-
tains almost at hand at the margin of the ice shelf. On November 16 the party crossed two
more depressions and swells, both much larger than the previous day, but except for the
steepness the going was easy, with only a few old snow-filled crevasses to avoid. At the
top of the second swell the men were presented with a smooth snow field rising up into
the foothills. They had left the Barrier and were at the doorstep of the mountains, having
encountered none of the excess of crevasses at this juncture that others had found farther
to the north.
Except for the outlet glacier to the west, named Liv Glacier for Nansen's daughter,
the mountains showed no clear gateway to the plateau from this vantage, so the decision
was made to do a direct assault, with the hope of reaching the notch between Mount
Fridtjof Nansen and Mount Don Pedro Christophersen, seen from farther out on the ice
shelf (Fig. 5.3). Here at the fringe of the foothills the men recalculated their weights, allo-
cated a portion constituting sixty days of provisions, and placed the remainder in a depot.
They had 683 miles to cover out to the pole and back to this cache. All forty-two of the
remaining dogs would be used in the ascent to the plateau, but once there, twenty-four
would be shot. By the time the party returned to this depot, the number of dogs would
be reduced to twelve, two teams of six, each pulling a single sledge on the final run to
Framheim.
After everything was readied, Amundsen and two others put on skis and set out
