Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
152
Figure 5.9. Liv Glacier spills down from the polar plateau, winding for forty-five miles through
buttressed ridges of the Queen Maud Mountains before entering the ice shelf. Byrd's flight up the
glacier favored the left (east) side, keeping to the left of the three prominent nunataks in midstream
in the upper reaches of the glacier (compare Fig. 5.6). At the termination of the long, dark ridge
extending out to the right of Mount Fridtjof Nansen, the glacier rises abruptly at an icefall. This was
The Hump, where the passengers feverishly scuttled any loose weight, including survival gear, and
prevailed in gaining the altitude necessary for mounting the plateau. Following the flight, Gould's
party moved into the end of the dark ridge in the left foreground. From there the men attempted to
traverse up Liv Glacier but were thwarted by severe crevassing, after which they turned east (left)
and carried along the mountain front.
Amundsen had described were recognizable. Then he spotted Mount Ruth Gade from
one of Amundsen's photos that he was carrying, and the rest of the landscape fell into
place: Mount Don Pedro Christophersen, followed by Mount Fridtjof Nansen, with the
Axel Heiberg cascading between them, Liv Glacier oV to the right of Fridtjof Nansen,
and beyond that a “consolidated mass, with the frowning ramparts of a fortress,” more
than twenty miles long rising behind the Prince Olav Mountains. Ashley McKinley re-
corded the entire passing spectacle with aerial photography.
The plan had been to land near the mouth of Axel Heiberg Glacier, where a depot
