CHAPTER X 
ACROSS SOUTH GEORGIA 
The sun rose in the sky with every appearance of a fine day, 
and we grew warmer as we toiled through the soft snow. Ahead 
of us lay the ridges and spurs of a range of mountains, the 
transverse range that we had noticed from the bay. We were 
travelling over a gently rising plateau, and at the end of an 
hour we found ourselves growing uncomfortably hot. Years 
before, on an earlier expedition, I had declared that I would 
never again growl at the heat of the sun, and my resolution had 
been strengthened during the boat journey. I called it to 
mind as the sun beat fiercely on the blinding white snow-slope. 
After passing an area of crevasses we paused for our first meal. 
We dug a hole in the snow about three feet deep with the adze 
and put the Primus into it. There was no wind at the moment, 
but a gust might come suddenly. A hot hoosh was soon eaten 
and we plodded on towards a sharp ridge between two of the 
peaks already mentioned. By 11 a.m. we were almost at the 
crest. The slope had become precipitous and it was necessary 
to cut steps as we advanced. The adze proved an excellent 
instrument for this purpose, a blow sufficing to provide a 
foothold. Anxiously but hopefully I cut the last few steps 
and stood upon the razor-back, while the other men held the 
rope and waited for my news. The outlook was disappointmg. 
I looked down a sheer precipice to a chaos of crumpled ice 
1500 ft. below. There was no way down for us. The country 
to the east was a great snow upland, sloping upwards for a 
distance of seven or eight miles to a height of over 4000 ft. To 
the north it fell away steeply in glaciers into the bays, and to 
the south it was broken by huge outfalls from the inland ice- 
sheet. Our path lay between the glaciers and the outfalls, 
but first we had to descend from the ridge on which we stood. 
197 
