The Washington herald., 1912-03-09


southwesterly direction, which Is prob
ably continuation OF King Edward VII
Land. On the 18th they reached the s4th
degree, where they placed another depot
On the 18th they reached the S5th degree.
where they made yet another depot. From
their winter quarters, "Franhelm," they
had been marching due south.
Barrier 800 Feet High.
On November II they arrived at a place
where the land and the barrier were
connected, the barrier here rising In an
undulat'on about 800 feet high. Here
Amundsen made his head depot and took
provisions for sixty days on sledges, and
left sufficient for thirty days there. The
land under which they lay and which
they had now to attack looked quite i'm
Posing. The nearest summit along the
barrier ranged from 1000 to 1000 feet in
| height.
Several other submits farther south
were l5,oo feet or more. They began to
climb.
The first part Of It was an easy task.
the ground rising in light slopes. 1t did
not take long with their willing dogs to
/ work their way up. At the farthest point
they met some small but very steep
glaciers. There they had to hitch twenty
dogs to each sled, and TO take four
sleds in two shifts. In some places the
going was SO steep that II was difficult 70
use their skis. Some great crevasses
compelled them from time to time to
make detour. The first day they climbed
1900 feet and the next day, during which
the going was chiefly over small glaciers,
they camped at q height Of $500 feet.
Encounter Huge Glacier.
On the third day a huge glacier, Axel
Heidelberg's Glacier. which divides the
coast mountains and the mountains
farther south, was encountered. The
next day began the longest part of
their climb. Many detours had to be
made to avoid crevasses. Amundsen
considered that these crevasses had
filled up almost to the top. as the gla-
cier in all probability had stopped
moving long ago. Nevertheless, they
moved very cautiously, never knowing
for certain how deep was this layer of
snow that covered the crevasses. They
camped that night in very picturesque
surroundings at a height of 5000 feet.
The glacier here was narrowed be-
tween the two 5000 feet high noun
tains, one named after Fridtjof Nansen
and the other Dom Pedro Christopher
Mountain.
At the bottom of the glacier, Amund-
sen could see Mount Ole Engelsted.
big snow cone 1850 feet high. The gla-
cier was very much broken in this COM
paratiye narrow pass. Mighty crevasses
threatened to stop their further progress
but II was not so serious as It looked.
They had now reached 5000 feet alti-
tude, an almost incredible record, and II
had taken them only four days from the
barrier until they were all on 4 vast
inland plateau They camped that night
l. aF.t.e enan
sens heart was almost broken, for he
had to kill twenty-four Of his brave dogs,
and keep only eighteen, six TO each of
his three sledges. He halted there for
four days on account of bad weather.
On November :, weary OF the delay,
he set out again On the 18th he en-
countered a furious blizzard. In the
dense drifting snow everything was OBJ
scured, nothing was to be seen. But they
felt that contrary to what they had ex-
pected, they were going down hill. Their
hypsometer told them that they had
descended six hundred feet that day. The
march of the band the next day was in
a gale. and with the dense drift OF snow
in their faces. They were badly frozen,
but were in no danger. They marched
on blindly, taking their course by the
compass, and that day reached south
latitude S. degrees, according to dead
reckoning. The weather cleared a little
at dinner time and evaIed to the men
their surroundings There was a mighty
mountain range to the east and not far
of. They saw it for only a moment and
then it disappeared again in the wonder
full drift of antarctic snow.
Called Devils Glacier"
The weather calmed down on the 18th
and the sun shone through the
shadow clouds. This was a glad sur
prise for the marchers as they were |
able to see that in their course was a |
far stretch of glacier formation running |
toward the south. At its eastern end |
was a mountain range branching of IN |
a southeasterly direction. Over the
western part of 1t they could have no |
view on account of the dense antarctic |
fog.
This glacier was named Devils Gla-
cier." and at its foot a depot for six
days was established. This depot was
located in IS degrees q minutes south
latitude, and the hypsOmeter indicated
about 5000 feet above the sea Ieyel.
Amundsen and his men began to climb
the glacier on November 80. They found
the lower part OF It very difficult 1t was
much broken and bridged by thin snow
formation which very frequently broke
beneath the weight Of the explorers
From the point of their camp that night
they were able to get a splendid view
over the mountain to the east. They saw
there Helmar Hansen's summit, the most
remarkable of all mountain peaks they
had encountered. 1t rolled l2,OOO feet high
and was brilliant with the facets OF
broken glacier ice. 1t was so steep and
ragged that in all probability no roothoId
was to be found there.
Three other peaks-the Oscar wistings.
Sverre Hassers, and Olaf BjaaIands-alsol
lay before them, beautifully Illuminated
in the rays of the bright sun. In the dis
lance the fog stiIl held. but Shifting occa-
sionally the shadowy form of Mount
Nielsen, its summit peaks about 1900
feet in the air, could be seen. Only por-
tons Of this great peak nearest to the
observers were in the range OF their eyes.
Surmounting the Glacier.
DEVILS glacier proved hardy obstacle.
L required three days for Amundsen
md his men to surmount it. The wealth
II they encountered was misty, and on
December they gladly left this difficult
way in their path. They had found
he glacier broken, and containing num-
,erless holes and crevices. Its height
ose 9,1OO feet. On this level they reached
he end of the glacier, and that which !
ay before them looked in the mist and
.