THEPWINTERVJOURNEY 263 
we got to the top we did some digging but it was quite 
impossible to get the roof on, and we had to leave it. We 
realized that day that it blew much harder at the top of the 
slope than where our tent was. It was bitterly cold up there 
that morning with a wind force 4-5 anda minus thirty tem- 
perature. 
The oil question was worrying us quite a lot. We were 
now well in to the fifth of our six tins, and economizing as 
much as possible, often having only two hot meals a day. 
We had to get down to the Emperor penguins somehow 
and get some blubber to run the stove which had been 
made for us in the hut. The 19th being a calm fine day we 
started at 9.30, with an empty sledge, two ice-axes, Alpine 
rope, harnesses and skinning tools. 
Wilson had made this journey through the Cape Crozier 
pressure ridges several times in the Discovery days. But 
then they had daylight, and they had found a practicable 
way close under the cliffs which at the present moment 
were between us and the ridges. 
As we neared the bottom of the mountain slope, farther 
to the north than we had previously gone, we had to be 
careful about crevasses, but we soon hit off the edge of the 
cliff and skirted along it until it petered out on the same 
level as the Barrier. Turning left handed we headed to- 
wards the sea-ice, knowing that there were some two miles 
of pressure between us and Cape Crozier itself. For about 
half a mile it was fair going, rounding big knobs of press- 
ure but always managing to keep more or less on the flat 
and near the ice-cliff which soon rose to a very great height 
on our left. Bill’s idea was to try and keep close under this 
cliff, along that same Discovery way which I have men- 
tioned above. They never arrived there early enough for 
the eggs in those days: the chicks were hatched. Whether 
we should now find any Emperors, and if so whether they 
would have any eggs, was by no means certain. 
However, we soon began to get into trouble, meeting 
several crevasses every few yards, and I have no doubt 
crossing scores of others of which we had no knowledge. 
Though we hugged the cliffs as close as possible we found 
