The Raymer enterprise., 1912-04-11

come through the pass and descend,
ing on Beardmore glacier but ! only
with infinite difficulties ana latter /
twelve hours of hards ,vosk., ! The
soft snow brought by the storm ec@n- 1
tinued over the pass. Men onHfdot !
sank to their knees and sledges sahk 1
to their crossbars continually. The
dogs have given some help but, cold /
only be lightly laden on such . str- !!
face. / send this note by ;returnihg !
teams. The party is very a3Ehl -c1 1GalI
not keep up the hours which We hl
been working. The. storm has al
ready cost US five days. .'Itd 4neetsk
may yet delay us further which /.
would be d serious matter. /. otherwlse, !,
everything has worked as planned.
We hope to find better conditions as
we advance sup the glacier. We are,
necessarily dependent on the syeath.
er and the season thus far .hak been
very unpromtsfng. =; ,.-s. it,s
A Struggle to Achieve IS MIlessa pay.
December III. latitude IS 9zkMes. z ;
minutes south; longitude, .l6$ degrees
4 minutes. east height about $500
feet, four miles south, thirty west OF .
Mount Darwin. Largely as a result !!
of the storm, reported in my last dis !.
patch. the lower reaches t.the glac.
Ter were filled with terrihk- soft snow.i-
Men on foot sank. to the knee at,
each step. Il would thave been -qAitB
impossible to advance bad we not
pulled, on. skis. As 1t vas, the, run
ner surface Of the sledges proved lin:
adequate. They frequently sank to,
crossbars. requiring to be extracted, I,
with standing pulls. For four days We
struggled in this, morass, scarcely
advancing five miles day although
working ten to eleven hours. 1t is
difficult to pitch a little harder and
we were able to push on, still pulling
on skis. We, did. not. get abreast d
the cloudbreaker mountain until the
seventh. so that the snow cost US .
weeks advance. -
Since the sixteenth We have been,
able TO make very good marches
working up from thirteen to twenty.
three statute miles per day. By pro-
gram l arranged to push on from the
eighty.ffth parallel with eight men
and twelve units Of provisions But l
hoped to reserve a margin over this.
AS We stand We are only. half a days
food short on program aad should
have good chance Of getting through.
The weather continues unsatisfactory.
We had to march without. sight. Of
land on occasions. We are getting
intermitten fog in this most crevassed
part Of the glacier. Everybody is In
the best OF health and spirits.
1t has been most difficult to select
the returning party Of four which car
RES this note. Our position consu.
tutes our upper glacier depot. Com
plete depots have been established
on the homeward route. The track
Of the barrier Is well marked with ,
SHOW cairns. The members going
forward are Scott, Lieutenant Evans,
Wilson, Bowers; 'UatAat4sAhley, Petty
Officer Evans and Cream.
Close to the. Pole.
January 3, 1912 latitude S7.32,
height $500 feet. After leaving the
upper glacier depot, south of. Mount
Darwin, Il steered southwest two
days. This did not keep us clear Of
pressure ridges and crevasses which
occurred frequently at first and gave
us trouble, but we rose rapidly in alti-
tude. Probably the difficult places
were more snowcovered than further
eastward. The adopting Of this course
was mainly felt on the third and
fourth days when owing to our alti-
tude we got "a splendid view of the
distribution Of the land masses firing
ing the ice sheet and the arm OF ice
falls. Since leaving the depot our
marches have averaged over fifteen
statute miles day. On Christmas
day we were close up to the S6th
parallel and the prospect Of Christ.
mas fare gave US an excellent march
seventeen miles-but the effect was
not so happy the following day. The
surface grew more difficult as We
approached the S7th parallel. On
New Years.eye, In latitude Ss ~de.
grees, 56 minutes, we depoted there
unit Of provisions and rebuilt our
sledges with new short runners,
which remarkable piece Of wofk was
performed by the 'seamen tefi the
party under adverse conditions. VAl.
though 1t cost us nearly days
march, the change amply repaid us.
We have been able to keep up our
average and we are now within $50
miles Of the pole. ,...
Five Going On to the Pole.
am going forward with a party
Of Ave men sending three back under
Lieutenant Evans with. this p9te.
The names and descriptions Of the
advance party are: Captain Scott, R.
N: DR.. Wilson, chief of the scientific
staff: Captain Oates. lnniskilling.
dragons, in charge Of the ponies and
mules; Lieutenant Bowers. Royal