Evening star., 1924-11-16
Tales OF arctic Suffering Stimulated
Anmndsen to Career of Exploration
Norwegian Frozen
Solid IL, Ice OF,
First Expedition.
Horrors of Initial
Trip Described by
Explorer.

10 yp'C''f'e ft .SINliS Api'Iti. udt
con.e across several narratives of the
Oh Ingi.sh explorers and they in
terested me Intensely; so much that |
got 2id of all the literature available
Upor this subject. That was the age
at which started my life's work. AS
long aa my parents lived, l knew I
could not leave my studies. but in the
meantime | working on de-
ve:opin: and training my body, so I
could te fit for the long and hard
struggle ahead.
However, I kept up to the
studies until 7 was 81 years of age
having tte last three years studied
2t the university to become a doctor
Then my MOI her died---my father had
already been Gcad for several years
mad that wa lie turning point in my
] %. The boo lis were sent spinning, and
} went right in for polar exploration.
Cal ed by Suffering.
TIE problem which appealed most
To my ina gina ton was the North
west Passage. 1t may seem strange
10 YOU when, | tell YOU that it was
hot the glory or the enthusiastic re-
certion which called me, but the suf-
fcrings more than anything else
Nothing was more alluring to me than
Franklin's description of his jour
neys to the north coast Of Alaska and
Canada, where he suffered intensely.
in one Of these trips he had to live on
Old bones, left by Eskimos and In
dians on III. ground. Those bones
Were burned and pdlverized and so
eaten. That was all he had for about
three weeks. His final death in try
Tag TO discover the Northwest Pas
sdEe, lS4t, was a call louder and more
irit"n"+ than all others. It was call
% the Northwest Passage which
hfnni nd
I" my later work. In the present time
we nave seen polar explorers Tentur-
Ing out straight from the desk or the
snop without any knowledge OF snow
ant, ice. and the catastrophes have
been many. You cannot be u trades
nial today and a polar explorer to-
morrow. You must go through the
degrees, as in every other branch of
work.
The first thing I did was to collect
all the literature upon the Northwest
Passage. 1t took me quite a long
time to do so ard when had finished
1 had good sized room filled For
800 years the English nation had
triad to pass through this passage, but
gave it up in 1875 as impracticable.
You can imagine the number of books
IN this time and YOU can hardly be
ieve what a study X was to go
through them all, However, 1t was
tDHt ana l ca me TO a conclusion. mat
the conclusion was a right one was
proved later when l passed through
the Northwest Passage from 1906.
There We're many hairbreadth escapes
on this trip, but they viii all be dealt
with in a special article upon the
Northwest Passage. In the Winter of
1909 l made A trip on skis into the
mo lntains of Norway in order to
Keep in training. In order to show
you that you may be just as close to
death in the Mountains OF Norway as
in the heart of the Artic when fate
is against you, will tell briefly about
this trip.
Left Christmas Day.
It was around Christmas: the days
were short and the snowstorms plen-
tiful. l had decided with one com
panion to traverse one of the most
desolate spots from one end to an
other. a distance of about 100 miles
1t had never been done before and we
were eager to be the first ones. We
were we'll equipped. hai good sleeping
bags and provisions for days. TEe
weather was very stormy and we had
TO wait in little hut. belonging to
q peasant, for eight days before We
could venture up into the mountains.
II was early on the Christmas morn
ing that we left the hut and the kind
hearted people behind. Familiar with
the weather conditions as these peas
ants are, they implored us not to go.
but having been idle for days moth
Ing could keep US back. The second
night out was very trying one; the
wind was bowling and the snow drift
ing. We went into our sleep
ing sacks after a scant supper of |
few biscuits. We had placed our pro-t
vision bags at the end of the sleep |
ing sacks and marked them with |
out ski sticks. The wind augmented |
10 a gale during the night and our
sleeping sacks drifted full of snow, |
as we did not have a tent. The heat
from the body melted the snow and
made the sacks wet through. Around |
midnight the gale stopped suddenly
and the temperature went down to
80 below. We turned out and moved
round to keep from freezing and spent
very disagreeable night. In the
morning before starting we wanted |
to make a cup of cocoa and discovered
then to our surprise that our provi- |
sion sacks we're gone. How they had |
disappeared we never knew. Proba bly,
some wild animals must have carried
them away.
Went Ahead In Storm.
The right thing now would have
been to return, but we never thought
Of 1t. Unfortunately, our maps had
been destroyed the previous day in the
snowstorm. The only thing left was
q little pocket compass. BY this we
ventured on. After two days hard
travelling toward our point of des-
rination we had to confess to our
selves that we were entirely lost.
We were about 5000 feet high and
there was only one place from which
we could descend toward the other
side. Having lost this one chance,
there was nothing for US to do but
TO return. The same evening we came
to little conically shaped hill in the
otherwise fiat desert. which gave very
good refuge from the raging snow
storm.
1t was blowing to beat the band;
the snow fell in big, heavy flakes.
saturated with moisture as the tenn
peraIure was a little above thawing.
In order to get a snug berth for the
Sleeping sacks l dug my way into
the hillside. hauled the sleeping sack
after me and went into it. 1t was
a wonderful feeling to be out of the
wind and l went to sleep Immediately.
How long I slept I do not know.
When 1 woke up I tried to turn
around on the other side, but could
not move The wet snow which had
] lay during the night had frozen
suddenly changed to 40 below. I was
people have had the experience /
FIRE is COSTLY!
Be Protected Against It