Wednesday 6 Dec. [Actually December 05]Have travelled absolutely blind all day. In such conditions, HH has to drive ahead with his dog team. Hass. and I, who otherwise would take turns in going ahead, cannot do so in this kind of weather, since we would simply come a cropper on the sastrugi.
Some of these are quite big – but nothing to make a song and dance about. With a little exhortation the dogs take the sledges over with flying colours. If we had to haul ourselves, it would have been a dangerous job. The oldest of these sastrugi run SE-NW, but many of those more recently formed run N-S and E-W. We have had snowfall (fine) all day – absolutely no visibility. And despite this we have done our 20 nautical miles. Boiling gave 10.750 ft.asl. The dogs are in surprisingly good form. It must be due to the good pemmican and the mild weather. This transcript comes from “Race for the South Pole - The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen” by Roland Huntford. It appears by courtesy of the author and The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. |
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