Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
160
Figure 5.14. In this view to
the northeast from the
crest of O'Brien Peak (see
Figs. 5.6, 6.2), Gould was
finally able to verify that
Carmen Land was a fig-
ment without form. The
perfectly flat surface of the
ice shelf marked the hori-
zon. In this image the hori-
zon is darkened because of
a bank of cloud shadowing
it in the distance.
signs of Carmen Land. There were none. We were now sure beyond any shadow of doubt
that it did not exist.”
The next day the geological party headed east into the icefield. The surface was ab-
lated into sharp cups that made skis useless, so the men rode on the sledges. Crevasses
were numerous, but they were small and fairly obvious in the blue ice. The dogs slipped a
lot, and the sleds took a beating. The men were so absorbed in their movement that they
failed to watch what the mountains were doing until they stopped to make camp for the
night. The rangefront had receded into a great cleft that drained ice from the polar pla-
teau. The path was due south and nearly straight, and it appeared (correctly so) that noth-
ing lay between the beholders and the South Pole (see Fig. 6.1).
The field party was camped right in the middle of the mouth of a massive outlet
glacier. Gould wrote of the place, “My feelings were a mixture of curiosity and very real
awe, as I looked up this new glacier and across the mountains to the east, knowing that
ours were the first human eyes ever to look upon them.” Mounts Goodale, Vaughan, and
Crockett were arrayed along the western margin of its catchment. As with Amundsen
Glacier, jagged peaks lined the middle reaches, and far in the distance flat-topped massifs
bounded the plateau. But here the scale was nearly twice that of Amundsen Glacier, both
in length and width. Thorne Glacier is the name that appears on the maps from this ex-
pedition, but some years later the name was changed to Scott Glacier, the rationale being
that major outlet glaciers should bear the names of major expedition leaders.
One day more and the party stopped at their farthest point, an arching ridge several
miles long composed of schist (Fig. 5.15). This they named Supporting Party Mountain to
honor the men and dogs who had laid the depots that had enabled them to reach so far.
