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Day 30 December 13, 2008
Below is a photo of snow on one of the guys gloves, and a glorious view of the tent.
SITREP
1. Sitrep No 30 as at 0900 hrs GMT 13 Dec 08
2. Distance Covered Today : 15.6 nm
3. Total Distance Covered : 366.4 nm
4. Hours travelled: 7
5. Daily Average to Date: 12.21 nm
6. Days to RV on Jan 9 at 97 Mile Point: 28
7. Distance to RV: 327.39 nm
8. Distance to Pole: 424.39 nm
9. Required Daily Average to achieve RV: 11.69 nm
December 13th, 1908
We made a start at 8 A.M. and once again went up hill and down dale, over crevasses and blue, ribbed ice, relaying the sledges. We had covered about a mile when we came to a place where it seemed almost impossible to proceed. However, to our right, bearing about southwest by south, there seemed to be better surface and we decided to make a detour in that direction in order, if possible, to get round the pressure. While returning for one of the sledges I fell on the ice and hurt my left knee, which was a serious matter, or rather might have been. I have had a bandage on all the afternoon while pulling, and the knee feels better now, but one realizes what it would mean if any member of our party were to be damaged under these conditions and in this place.
This afternoon we came on to a better surface, and were able to pull both sledges instead of relaying. We are still gradually rising, and tonight our hypsometer gives 203.7, or 4370 ft. up. There is a cool southerly wind; indeed, more than we have had before, and as we have only a patch of neve on the glacier for our tents, we had to take the provision bags and gear off the sledges to keep the tent cloths down. The temperature is plus 19°F. New mountains are still appearing to the west southwest as we rise. We seem now to be going up a long yellow track, for the ice is not so blue, and we are evidently traveling over an old moraine, where the stones have sunk through the ice when its onward movement has been retarded. I am sure that the bulk of the glacier is growing less, but the onward movement still continues, though at a much slower pace than at some previous period. The gain for the. day was five miles, and in addition we did four miles relay work.
Day 30 Report
Day 30: Overview
- Distance covered:
- 15.6 nm
- Wind:
- 4 mph
- Conditions:
- low cloud until the last hour with some light snow
- Temperature:
- -7°C
The Heart of the Antarctic
This is the story of the “Farthest South” expedition, told by its leader. After enduring biting winds, short rations and crevasse-ridden glaciers for over a year, Shackleton’s party faced a desperate forced march to return to their ship, The Nimrod, or face being marooned on the ice.
Taken from Sir Ernest Shackleton’s own compelling chronicle of his first Antarctic expedition, written on his return in 1909.
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