DIFFICULTIES WITH DEEP SNOW 
495 
were soon perspiring. After the first mile we began to 
rise, and for some way on a steep slope we held to our 
ski and kept going. Then the slope got steeper and the 
surface much worse, and we had to take off our ski. The 
pulling after this was extraordinarily fatiguing. We sank 
above our finnesko everywhere, and in places nearly to our 
knees. The runners of the sledges got coated with a thin 
film of ice from which we could not free them, and the 
sledges themselves sank to the crossbars in soft spots. 
All the time they were literally ploughing the snow. We 
reached the top of the slope at 5, and started on after tea 
on the down grade. On this we had to pull almost as 
hard as on the upward slope, but could just manage to get 
along on ski. We camped at 9.15, when a heavy wind 
coming down the glacier suddenly fell on us ; but I had 
decided to camp before, as Evans' party could not keep 
up, and Wilson told me some very alarming news con- 
cerning it. It appears that Atkinson says that Wright 
is getting played out and Lashly is not so fit as he 
was owing to the heavy pulling since the blizzard. I 
have not felt satisfied about this party. The finish of 
the march to-day showed clearly that something was 
wrong. They fell a long way behind, had to take off ski, 
and took nearly half an hour to come up a few hundred 
yards. True, the surface was awful and growing worse 
every moment. It is a very serious business if the men 
are going to crack up. As for myself, I never felt fitter 
and my party can easily hold its own. P.O. Evans, of 
course, is a tower of strength, but Oatcs and Wilson are 
doing splendidly also. 
