The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-03-15


! On the 18th We reached "a degrees,
where We eSlapiisneu j uepot, Ou Tue
| 10th we were at IS degrees, where.
also. We made depot. From our win
ter quarters, 'Framheim," rs degrees
S8 minutes south latitude, We had
| been marching due south. On the
18th of Nov, at S5 degrees, We arrived
at place where the land and barrier
were connected. This was done with,
out any great difficulty The barrier
here rises in undulations to about 800
feet Some few big crevices indicated
the limited boundary.
| Here we made our head depot, TAX
| ing provisions for sixty days on
sledges and leaving thirty days pro.
visions on the spot
A Difficult Climb.
| The land under which we lay and
which We now had to attack looked
quite imposing. The nearest SUBMITS
along the barrier had a height from
| 1000 TO 10000 feet, but several 9th
ers furthar5south We're $4,000 feet or
climb. The first part Of it was an
easy task, light stops and well filled
mountain sides. 1t did not take 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 twenty dogs
to each sledge and take the four
sledges in two turns. In some places
IT was so steep that 1t was difficult
enough to use our skis.
Some big creYices forced US from
| time to time to make detourS. The
first day we climbed 1000 feet; the
next day mostly up some small glsc-
iers, camping at a height Of $500 feet.
! The third day we we're obliged to go
down on a mighty glacier. ''Axel Hei.
| berg's glacier" which divided the
coast mountains and 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 ap.
parently mostly filled up, as the
glaciers in all 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
narrowed in between the two $4,000
feet high mountains, the "Fridtjof
Nansen" and the Don Pedro Christie
pherson" From the bottom of the
glacier rose mount "Ole Englstad,'
a big snow cone 1850 feet high.
Days Splendid Work.
The glacier was very broken in this
comparatively narrow pass. The
mighty creyices seemed to stop up
from going further, but it was not SO
serious as it appeared. Our dogs.
which up to this time had covered a
distance of about 700 kilometers, the
last days very hard work, ran this day
thirty-five kilometers, the ascent be.
ing $500 feet, an almost incredible
record.
1t took UP only four days from the
barrier to get up on the vast inland
plateau. We camped that night at a
height of 10000 feet. Here we had to
kill twenty-four of our brave compan.
ions and keep eighteen, six for each
Of our three sledges. We stopped
here four days on account Of bad
weather. Tired of this we set out on
the 25th of Nov. On the 26th was a
furious blizzard and In dense snow
drift absolutely nothing was to be
seen, but we felt that, contrary to ex.
pectations, We were going fast down
hill. The hypsometer gave us that
day a descent of 600 feet. We con.
tinued our march the next day in a
gale and dense snow drift and got
our faces badly frozen. We could see
nothing. We reached that day sc de.
grees dead reckoning. The hypsome
ter indicated fall of 500 feet. -
The next day was similar. The
weather cleared a little at dinner
time and exposed to our view mighty
mountain, range to the east and not
far off; only for moment, and then
1t disappeared in the dense snow
drift. On. the 29th it Gained down
and the sun shone, though it was not
the only pleasant surprise he gave. In
our course stretched big glacier run
ming toward the south. At its east
ern end was the mountain range go
ing in, southeasterly direction. Of
the western part of it no view was to
be had, it being hidden in the dense
fog. At the foot Of this glacier, the
Devils Glacier" depot for six days
was established, at 1921 degrees south
latitude 8 The hypsometer indicated
5000 feet above sea level. 49,. ...
1 A Splendid Mountain View.
/ On Nov 80 We began to climb the
glaciers! The lowest part of it was
very mulch broken and dangerous
Moreover, the snow bridges very often
burst From our camp that night we
had a splendid view over the noun
tain to the east. There was "Helmal
Hansen's Summit" the most remark
able of them all. 1t was 10000 feet
high and covered with such broker
glaciers, that in all probability nc
foothold was to be found. oscar
Wistings," "Sverre Hassel's" and
"Olav Hjanlands" mountains also lay