Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
209
turned back due to either engine trouble or unfavorable weather, but the fourth com-
pleted a highly successful flight. The plane headed toward the mouth of Beardmore
Glacier, veered west and flew over the Queen Alexandra Range, then turned north and
followed along the backside of the mountains, hemmed in by clouds on the plateau side.
As the plane rounded the west flank of Mount Markham, a huge convergence of cracked
and fluid ice emerged, funneled oV to the east into a steep defile, and streamed oV into
the Ross Ice Shelf (Fig. 7.2). Here were the headreaches of what Scott had named Shack-
leton Inlet, a spectacular outlet glacier that in its middle reaches dropped six thousand
feet in a distance of less than twenty-five miles, in scale and intensity reminiscent of the
middle reaches of Amundsen Glacier. In honor of Shackleton's ship, this major feature
was named Nimrod Glacier. Continuing northward along the backside of the Churchill
Mountains, the plane flew in over the Royal Society Range and then across the steaming
summit of Mount Erebus before tracking back along the Barrier front to Little America
(see Fig. 1.17).
With the next clear flying day, February 20, two planes flew west from Little Amer-
ica. The first flew in over Cape Murray to the north of Darwin Glacier and turned north,
flying about one hundred miles along meridian 155° E to the head of Ferrar Glacier. From
there it flew up the inland side of the mountains while the second plane flew in along the
eastern side. Together these planes photographed the width of the Transantarctic Moun-
tains as far north as Terra Nova Bay, for the first time observing and recording the system
of ice-free valleys to the north of Taylor Valley.
The spaces of white dramatically disappeared from the map of the Transantarctic
Mountains during Operation Highjump. Interior northern Victoria Land alone remained
unsighted. However, no ground control existed for any of the newly photographed areas,
so the production of accurate maps would not be possible.
Figure 7.2. The savage
central portion of Nimrod
Glacier constricts at Cam-
brian Bluff, the pyramidal
peak on the left side of
the image. Cape Wilson
stands at the left rear.
Scott's party made it to
that spot on the last day
of 1902 but was unable to
reach ground due to the
deep tears where Nimrod
Glacier flows into the Ross
Ice Shelf.
