THE ASCENT OF EREBUS, DECEMBER 1912 

 BY RAYMOND PRIESTLEY 



A PARTY of six left Cape Evans on December 2, 1912, with the 

 main object of surveying the old crater, and if time permitted 

 making an ascent to the rim of the present active crater. It was 

 originally intended that in the final climb Professor David's route 

 should be followed, but our researches in the old crater led to 

 the adoption of quite a different way, and one where a sledge 

 could be pulled to a height of considerably over 9500 feet, at 

 least 3000 feet higher than the Shackleton Expedition party 

 were able to reach before being obliged to abandon theirs. 



We left our Cape Royds camp (1000 feet above sea level) 

 on December 4. It was not an ideal day for starting, and for the 

 first 2000 feet of the ascent we groped from nunatak to nunatak 

 through a thick cloud, and Debenham was unable to commence 

 his plane table survey. 



We lunched above this cloud belt, and although it swelled 

 slowly upwards we were, with the exception of a very few min- 

 utes in the early afternoon, able to keep ahead of it until we 

 camped beneath a prominent cone about 4000 feet above sea 

 level, which is well seen on the sky line from Cape Evans, and 

 which would therefore be an important point of Debenham's 

 survey, linking the portion of Erebus visible from Cape Evans 

 and Cape Royds with the country beyond the shoulder, which 

 was the last ridge visible from winter quarters. 



As we were caught by the fog in the act of camping and the 

 landmarks below had been blotted out all the afternoon by the 

 belt of cloud, we were obliged to wait here until the weather 

 cleared and we could fix the cone, and so persistent was the bad 

 weather that it was not until 10 A.M. of the yth that we struck 

 Reflection Camp, as we had named it, and were able to proceed. 



Our first objective, the Northern Nunatak or Demetri's Peak, 

 as we afterwards named it, was within easy reach by lunch time, 

 so I decided to camp at a large nunatak about a mile and a half 



