Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-18
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

L
across the first slope of the barrier
south of the Bay Of Whales yesterday
1 afternoon as the supporting sledging
Lparty started its long trip southwark
| Drivers trotted alongside their teams
or moved easily and swiftly ON skis
holding to their gee poles and calling
| to their dogs. Their shouts grew faint
er, lost in the immensely Of the space
about to swallow them, the uncharted
and desolate wilderness against which
they are pitting their strength and
courage.
The rolling plain of snow. the en-
trance to the vast wilderness to the
south, was clothed in soft rose tints
and purple shadows. The flaming sun
above the western horizon overf1owed
in binding radiance. On either side
were its brilliant companions, the
golden flares of parhelia.
In the east the ghostlike moon hung
in the pure curtain of the sky. The
sledges became mere dark lines, crawl
ing and infiniteSimal objects, moving
toward a cleaning and iridescent hill
side.
Byrd Watches Them OF.
Left behind were two sledges and q
few men. One of them was Comdr.
Byrd who had come several miles to
see his men begin their long journey.
He watched them as the sledges skipped
behind the ridges while the sounds of
creaking runners and muffled calls came
out of the emptiness of the barrier.
AS they climbed slowly into sight
again he finally turned away with a
smile.
"They are great men," he said.
"They will do it if any one can"
For days the men had been I'M
fnN> IN
leave The cold maintained its iron
grip and it would have been useless to
start out in weather so severe. The
snow surface was like rough sand, over
which SledgeS could be hauled only
with the greatest difficulty.
Billiards Smothered Camp.
When the temperature rose a little
a blizzard would howl out of the east
and smother the camp. Three days ago
was the first clear day with moderate
temperature. It was 80 below, but
there was no wind.
Here's a chance to get something
DONE" said Comdr. Byrd. Lets get
some loaded sledges down the bay as
far as possible and leave them. Get the
trip through the pressure ridges over
while we can"
1t is seven miles from the camp to
the bay, and as these Serrated masses
of ice move constantly, piling up and
topping over, it is often difficult to
find a route through them and no GER
tainty that the same place can be used
twice.
Pass Promontory Of Barrier.
Just outside the inlet is long press
ure ridge running almost due south q
mile and half to where 1t meets q
huge promontory Of barrier ice thrust
for out into the bay. The team trotted
along the hard surface, the seldges lift
dropping with q thump on the other
side, sometimes rumbling over a wide,
smooth mound that echoed hollow Ike
drum under the grating impact OF
the runners.
The upheaved pressure ice became
higher and higher, its tops split and
torn into shapes which leased the eye
into imagining lions head, two sharp
nosed and chinless gargoyes thrusting
temple door of glistening white and
blue, leaning crafty. Every manner OF
beast and structure in the world could
be seen.
Curved Mounds Against Gins.
As the trial drew nearer to the bar
rier cliffs, which lowered overhead IN
their chill purity of outline, throwing
hack In glittering shafts the light OF
the SIN tremendous curved mounds
were lifted against their base.
THE sIedges moved under these silent
walls until they reached the END OF the
ridge. Between it and the GIN va 9
smooth field Of snow and the sleoges
tore around the corner. "
That smooth surface was 1alr oe-
ceit: no sooner was the corner rounoeo
than another ridge lifted aneao. up
this the dogs struggled. A..
game their drivers holding to the sides
Of the sledgeS to keep them from up
ming over into a crevasse, slipping anu
Sliding. yelling, and then in moment
the too was gained and over the otner
side they plunged into a deep ana
The sledges went downward with a
rush and brought up in deep snow
at the foot of another steep incline.
Team after team stuck there; WINE
drivers yanked on gee poles ana nauleo
at the loads themselves, and one by one
the sledges were pulled over the top
and out on the level surface OF the Bay
ice.
wide Pressure Ridge q Problem.
The trail turned west toward the sun,
and again running easily the dogs
trotted over q surface touched with
color. shining with diamonds. Here
were smooth patches Of ice on which
the running rang hard, ana between
them rough gravelly stretches OF snow
drift
A little way, and another pressure
ridge was reached, a wide and complex
ridge, really separated in two lines Of
cleavage. Through the first was a
smooth, winding path. But the second
was a steep pitch downward into a
gully where the sledges stuck nose flrst.
The only way through was. a tiny
passage barely large enough for sledge
to pass, and as the dogs worked up
into this they begged down in the soft
snow and the sledge stuck behind them
as If staked down.
The drivers grunted and teaved and
yelled at their dogs, who dug their
sturdy legs in and pulled with all their
might. And then with a wrench the
sledge would break loose and stagger
up and through the narrow gateway.
Great Waves Of Ice.
On the other side Of this ridge are
great rolling waves of ice caused by
pressure. 1t is as If a sea, tossed by
the wind, had suddenly frozen and kept
it's uneasy form. Over the waves the
sledges slipped, UP and down, up and
down, with an odd swinging motion.
Past the waves the surface took on
another strange aspect. It was mot
tied with patches of dull, gray snow
with sharp edges sticking up like thin
| overlapping rock strata.
| There were glistening surfaces pol
ished by the wind and drift until they
shone brilliantly with reflected light.
The whole field was as If it had been
| spilled molten from a gigantic kettle
and cooled like lava in long streaks OF