THE ASCENT OF EREBUS, DECEMBER 1912 
By Raymond Priestley 
A PARTY of six left Cape Evans on December 2, 191 2, 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 re- 
searches 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 minutes in the early afternoon, able to keep 
ahead of it until we camped beneath a prominent cone 
about 4,000 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 
