Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-25
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We both hurried out and started
shoveling frantically. The wind. was
growing stronger and the plane started
to move again. jumped on to one
of the skis to help hold it while Bernt
continued shoyeling.
Stove Goes Bad.
June was getting into his clothes as
fast as pcssible-the Primus stove went
BAD. or rather had leaked into the bot
tom of the cooker, and this caught fire.
This slowed him up. Meanwhile Bernt
was calling for him to come and stand
on the other ski
The wind was nov about 40 miles an
hour. We cut great blocks of snow and
piled them all over the skis. Bernt
made a dead man" buried plane
anchor out of a ski and secured the
landing gear little better.
The wind lulled a bit about 230 and
we had a breathing SPELL getting things
in order. We hoped the worst was
over. But, with no warning whatever.
the wind let go again about $50 with
unprecedented force. This was the blow
that also reached the base at Little
America with force Of 60 miles an
hourD
Plane Again Slides.
The plane started to move again and
It slid back until the dead man guy
was taut and skidded around little
On the tail and then stuck.
A sudden gust of wind lifted 1t up
on the left wing. We could not stand
against the wind and could not get
line through the eye at the wind to
hold on to.
Bernt had looked at the air speed
indicator in the plane and found it
registered 60 miles per hour, but it had
not begun to blow yet.
Another great gust-the plane lifted
and quivered. We must get this left
wing anchored. / remembered ball of
. heavy line in the grub chest. 1 caught
the free end and threw the ball over
: the left wing and then hung onto both
ends for dear life.
Soon Bernt threw another line
around the wing and he held, too, for
a few minutes and then June relieved
him. NV hands grew numb. I reached
for ski and tied my line around it
and chung to 1t. getting colder all the
time and the wind worse.
Three times an unusually heavy gust
lifted us both clear off the ground. 1t
seemed the plane would have overturn-
ed. We dared not to let go, and we
were both getting colder. Bernt was Sc
curing the other wing and working like
O madman.
The driving snow III the teeth of the
awful wind was worse than needles. MY
beard and face became encrusted and
/ lost all sensation I thought it and
my wrists had frozen. had to blink
vigorously and continuously to keep my
. eyelids from freezing shut
We could only hang on and pray. For
three hours we did this. BY that time
Bernt had succeeded in piling up snow
blocks so that he could get o line
through the ring at the wing and secure
it to a ski.
We all turned to and piled snow
blocks onto the ski and also secured to
skis and staked the lines which June
and had been holding. Then we had
three guys on the left wing.
Crawls Through Gale.
Still the wind blew. I had ski boots
. on and positively could not stand
against it. When tried to go to wind
ward had to crawl, then I would pick
up piece of snow and then be blown
back to where IL was to be piled.
How long did we work? It seemed
hours and days. have faced some crit
ical situations before, but none which
at the time looked so terrifying as this.
II we lost the plane it meant a walk
home of about $50 miles in weather and
temperature that were well nigh UNI
livable. But the danger OF losing the
plane was SO great that ! asked June
to unload all the gear and one radio
outfit. This he did.
When later looked at the barometer
found that 1t had dropped an inch
within about four, or five hours. These
winds were from the north and north
little west.
Some time before midnight the wind
ceased enough so we could look to our
tent. Two guys had torn loose and two
rips were made in the tent. Sleeping
bags and everything were fairly sat-
urated with snow We cleaned them
out as best we could and turned in.
With early morning, the wind was
ing and snapping-sounded like a
broadside of muskets. One cannot
imagine the din inside even small
tent in such a gale. He must expert
ence it.
We turned out to watch the plane
It quivered and shook like a thing
alive, ready to take flight. But the
guys held and, of course, We SHOW
eled more snow.
March Tenth.
Not so bad today The wind has
lulled anG by afternoon the clouds lifted
enough to give me shot at the sun
to determine our position. A bright
sunset and some stars. / set up my
transit at 1890 to get some starsights.
Clouded over soon. Joined Bernt and
June-went to bed.
Awakened at $3.50 by the din of a
slapping tent and terrific wind.
Again the plane was in grave danger.
] dressed and went out to look and
came back to reassure Bernt and Har-
old that it would hold.
There seemed nothing more we could
. do. removed our few parkas- and bags
from the plane so we should have them
in case 1t was blown away. Three more
times l got up and looked things over
and returned to the warmth OF the OLD
reindeer sleeping bag,
At 1890 / got up and dressed and
was followed by Bernt and Harold.
The wind didn't seem so strong now.
We estimated 1t at about thirty-f1ve
miles, but it was showing heavily, so
there was no seeing anything.
We had some breakfast and Harold
tried. and with success, to get the
emergency radio engine going, but
failed to get response from camp.
At 4 pm. he tried again. and this time
successfully. They had heard his mes
sage, so had not been especially
worried.
Haines said the weather was favor
:,