The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1912-03-16

where we established a depot; on the
5l4th we were at IS degrees, where,
also, we made depot.
From our winter quarters "F'ram
helm" Is degrees 38 minutes south
latitude; we had been marching due
south. On November IL At S5 degrees,
We arrived ataa place where the land
and barrier were connected. This was
done without any great difficulty. The
barrier here rises in elevation to about
300 feet, some big crevices on the
boundary. Here we made our head
depot. taking provisions for sixty days
on sledges, and leaving thirty days.
provisions on the spot.
The land under which we lay and
which we now had to attack looked
quite imposing. The nearest summit
along the barrier had height from
1000 toa1O,OO0 feet but several others
further south were Ii, 900 feet or more.
The next day we began the. climb.
The first part Of It was an easy. task
light slopes and well filled mountain
sides. It did not. take a long time, for
our willing dogs worked their way up.
Further UP; We met with some small
but very steep glaciers. Here we had
to harness 20 dogs. to each sledge and
take the four sledges in two turns In
some places it was SO steep that it was
difficult to use our skis.
Some big crevices forced us from
time to- time to- make detours. The first
day we climbed 1000 feet, the next
day mostly up some small glaciers,
camping at height of 1900 feet. The
third day we were obliged to go down
on a mighty glacier *.Exelhybergs
Glacier" which divided the coast
mountains from; the mountains further
south. The next day began the longest
part Of our climb. Many detours had
to be, made in order to avoid broad
cracks and open crevices: These were
apparently mostly filled up, as the
g1aciersinsallsp probability had long ago
stopped moving, but we had to be very
careful, never knowing for certain how
thick was the layer that covered them.
Our camp: that night lay in very
picturesque Surroundings at height of
5000 feet. The glacier here was mar
rowed in between the two 15,000-feet
mountains, the s'Fridtj of Nansen" and
the don Pedro Christopherson.' From
the bottom of the glacier rose mount
"Ole Englstad," big snow cone 49,.
500 feet high. -.
The glacier was very much broken
In this i comparatively narrow pass.
The mighty crevices seemed to stop us
from going further but it was not so
serious as, 1t appeared. Our dogs,
which up to this time had covered a
distance of about 1000 kilometers, the
last days hard work, ran this day 35
kilometers, the ascent being $500 feet,
an almost Incredible record. 1t took
us only four days from the barrier to
get up on a vast inland plateau.
We camped that night at a height
of 10000 feet. Here we had to kill
twenty-four of our brave companions
and keep eighteen, six for each of our
three s1edges
We stopped here four days on
accountso of bad weather. Tired of this,
we set out November %. On the 26th
in a, furious blizzard and in dense
snowdrift, absolutely nothing was to be
seen but we felt that, contrary to ex-
pectations, we were going fast down
hill. The hipsometer gave us fall of
500 feet.
The. next day was SIMILAR The
weather: cleared little at dinner time
and exposed to our view a mighty
mountain range to the east, not far
off,, only for moment, and then it
disappeared in the dense snowdrift. On
the 29th it calmed down and the sun
shone, though it was not the only
pleasant surprise he gave In our
course stretched big glacier running
toward the south. At its, eastern end
was the mountain range going in a
southeasterly direction OF the western
part of it no view was to be had, it be-
ing hidden in dense fog
At the foot of this glacier, the
Devils Glacier a depot for six days
was established; at SO degrees south
latitude the shypsometer indicated 5000
feet above sea level On November, 80
we, began to climb the glacier; the
lower part of it was very much brok.
en-. and dangerous. Moreover, the snow
bridges very often burst. From our
camp that night we had splendid
view over the mountain to the east.
There was 'tHelmer Hansen's summit .
ltatinued on last page)