382 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



to the top of the Beardmore Glacier and back is 1 1 64 

 statute miles. Scott's Southern Journey of 1902-3 was 

 950 statute miles. 



One day only is worth recalling. We got into the same 

 big pressure above the Cloudmaker which both the other 

 parties experienced. But where the other two parties made 

 east to get out of it, we went west at Wright's suggestion : 

 west was right. The day really lives in my memory because 

 of the troubles of Keohane. He fell into crevasses to the 

 full length of his harness eight times in twenty-five minutes. 

 Little wonder he looked a bit dazed. And Atkinson went 

 down into one chasm head foremost : the worst crevasse 

 fall I've ever seen. But luckily the shoulder straps of his 

 harness stood the strain and we pulled him up little the 

 worse. 



All three parties off the plateau owed a good deal to 

 Meares, who, on his return with the two dog-teams, built 

 up the cairns which had been obliterated by the big bliz- 

 zard of December 5-8 . The ponies' walls were drifted level 

 with the surface, and Meares himself had an anxious time 

 finding his way home. The dog tracks also helped us a 

 good deal : the dogs were sinking deeply and making heavy 

 weather of it. 



At the Barrier Depots we found rather despondent 

 notes from Meares about his progress. To the Southern 

 Barrier Depot he had uncomfortably high temperatures 

 and a very soft surface, and found the cairns drifted up and 

 hard to see. At the Middle Barrier Depot we found a note 

 from him dated December 20. "Thick weather and bliz- 

 zards had delayed him, and once he had got right off the 

 tracks and had been out from his camp hunting for them. 

 They were quite well : a little eye strain from searching for 

 cairns. He was taking a little butter from each bag [of the 

 three depoted weekly units], and with this would have 

 enough to the next depot on short rations." * At the Upper 

 Glacier Depot [Mount Hooper] the news from Meares was 

 dated Christmas Eve, in the evening: "The dogs were 

 going slowly but steadily in very soft stuff, especially his 



1 My own diary. 



