Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
2 From the Sea to the Ice Plateau
The Crossing of Victoria Land
Put yourself on Observation Hill, on a beautiful spring day in August 1902 (Fig.
2.1). The view is to the southern edge of the known world. The mountains to the west
and the ice shelf to the south are the hinterlands of knowledge, with the boundaries left
to imagination. The afternoon is a bit chilly at minus 45° F, but windless, so without the
nip. The sun, still quite low in the northern sky, infuses the landscape with a glow rich
in hues of pink and gold. This view is one of the grandest in Antarctica and a pilgrimage
that every visitor to McMurdo Station must make (Fig. 2.2).
Across the sound forty miles to the west, the mountain range is a magnificent spec-
tacle. Two specific features catch the eye: the graceful volcano to the southwest and the
ghostly range of mountains directly across McMurdo Sound. The volcano, a perfect cone
sweeping to nearly nine thousand feet, is a distant cousin of Mounts Erebus and Ter-
ror (Fig. 2.3). Scott will name it Mount Discovery, after his own stout ship. Extending
Figure 2.1. (opposite top) The 750-foot volcanic cone of Observation Hill rises behind McMurdo
Station in January 1983. Open water in Winter Quarters Bay (right foreground) signals that the
icebreaker has opened a channel for the supply ship. Pallets of retrograde cargo sit on the ice dock
awaiting its arrival. Aside from the obvious settlement, the explorers of the Discovery Expedition
would see that the terrain has been significantly altered since 1902 by the addition of a landfill on
the forward edge of the base, scraped down from the surrounding hills. White Island marks the
horizon to the right, with the Ross Ice Shelf to the left. Cape Armitage is the point at the right end of
Observation Hill. The Gap is to the left of Observation Hill. Hut Point is out of the picture about two
hundred yards to the right.
 
 
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