Pole Snow

Pole Snow

The hunt for the first to reach the South Pole was over and Shackleton and a crew wanted to be the first to cross the pole from side to side. Barely starting the journey, the ship got frozen up in the ice. Instead of releasing the ice after the long night as expected, the ice tightened its grip and eventually destroyed the ship. Without a choice the men used the ice to take then north until they finally reached Elephant Island. From here Shackleton and five men took a small boat and crossed 800 miles of ocean until they reached the back of the island South Georgia. Still the journey was not over.

Too tired to continue, the men had to rest for a few days. A cave became a palace and a nearby stream provided fresh drinking water. While they certainly had no luxury, the six could also never forget their friends were depending on them to be rescued. After they crossed a small bay and unable to find a cave, the men had to make camp under the overturned boat. The men were so weak that after waiting a week, only three of the six could continue. Before dawn one morning the others set out towards the first steep slope. On several occasions the men had to turn around and head down a steep slope since there was no way down the other side. After six hours the reach the mountain range the needed to cross in order to reach Stromness, a small wailing station.

Between the peaks were gaps. So if you went up to the peak and could not go down the other side it was all the way down again. In line with the rest of the expedition this happened and by sunset the men reached the fourth gap. The reality hit them that there was no way down and yet, they could not stay on the mountain that night. Far too steep to descend by foot but with a night approaching which could only mean a freezing death, Shackleton had to make a plan. 

He ordered the men to sit and one behind the other they started sliding down the steep slope. Flying blindly, the three hurdled themselves down the mountain at a frightening rate, until they finally hit the soft snow. Hysterical but safe the three men used the moonlight to walk and to make the cold bearable.

Too scared to sleep, Shackleton allowed the other two men to sleep for half an hour around just after midnight. He woke them after ten minutes telling them they slept for thirty minutes. Scared they might die, he used a white lie, but it worked and they could move again. At seven that morning they heard a steam whistle. Far from safe, they now faced melted snow and water that made their legs numb. Then as if to give them a final test, nature through in a waterfall and the men had to lower them through a torrent of frigid water. It was already afternoon when Shackleton and the other two reached the home of the station manager. With months of grime and dirt on them, they did not make an impression on the station manager. However when Shackleton gave his name, the man began to weep with shock and utter amazement. This continued, as they told him their story.

After a wash and a shave they went back to fetch the three men on the back of the island. Hardly surprising they did not recognize their own friends. Borrowing a whaling vessel, Shackleton went to rescue the rest of the men on Elephant Island. Reaching within sixty mile the ice tightened and refused to let him through. He went to the Falklands and planned a second mission. This time he could see the peaks of the Island but yet again he had to turn around. It had now been close to three months since Shackleton had reached the whaling station and he was getting worried his men were busy dying of hunger.

At last, using a steel boat called the Yelcho, he found an opening in the ice. On September 3 1916, almost two years after the Endurance first raised her sails, Sir Shackleton fulfilled his vow to himself. He brought back every one of the men that volunteered. In the history of Antarctica no story was filled with such contrasting events. The three men crossing the mountains of South Georgia all recalled the constant impression of the presence of a fourth man on the journey across the mountains. This fact alone almost gives a mysterious element to the remarkable story. In the end Shackleton seemed to push himself just a bit too far and on another attempt to go to the pole, he died of a heart attack in the harbour at South Georgia. At age forty seven he was laid to rest and one could say the rushing wind finally calmed down.  

A fascination with the icy conditions on the poles of the Earth made me read about the early explorers. Once you start, you will never stop. This is but one article. Read more articles and also visit my site at [http://monkcave.com/ams] for more content rich articles.

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