IN ANTARCTICA

Hokitika Guardian, 23 November 1929, Page 5

IN ANTARCTICA

(By Russell Owen—Copyrighted 1929 by the New York Times Company, and St. Louis Post Despatch. All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to New York Times.)

ANOTHER AIR EXCURSION

GETTING CLOSER TO POLE

(United Press Association—By Eleutru Telegraph—Copyright).

(Received this clay at 8.30. a.m.) BAY OF WHALES, Nov. 22.

The day 'before yesterday our Ford plane established a tiny base almost within tin* shadow of the South Pole. We went out a total of 440 miles.

Before we started the flight I told Dean Smith to deliver a mail to the mountains. We all know that the air mail pilot with the mail aboard will go through when it can lie done. Dean did a fine job holding the indistinct trail made by the clog teams of the geographical party. We passed the party 200 miles out and also looked clown at our comrades 2300 ft. beneath us, making only ten or fifteen miles a day, while we were making let) miles an hour. It emphasised the great difference between the old method of polar exploration by clog team system and the new method of aviation. The clog team party, however, will .be able to remain at the mountains lor several weeks, where the aeroplane might be blown away in a storm. That is why a minute geographical investigation must be made by the foot traveller. Even now, howevpr, we have earned enough to design a plane that we can anchor to the snow and so defy the winds.

About midway in the light we passed over territory in the erevassecl region that the supporting party had worked its way though. We could see their zig-zag path as it wound in and out (along the bottomless- crevasses and dangerous pits. All the more, we realised what a wonderful job this party did in getting through this area of chaotic mass of criss-cross-ing chasms, gigantic ice blocks on end, faiishaped cracks, wide and narrow, screeching for miles to the East and West.

It is entirely beyond my powers of description. We must let the mapping camera tell the story. , Not long after passing the c-revassed area we s gliled great mountains on the starboard bow. Later, on the return trip from, oCO'Tt., we thought we could follow them for 150 miles. We :dge that wb say a',ll the way to Beardmore Glacier, where Scott and Shackleton ascended to the plateau on their polar effort. McKinley photographed this range and a new one running near it in the same direction. We can definitely join up Axel Heiberg Glacier with Beardmore Glacier. This is a magnificent range. As we approa bed the mountains, peak after peak cane into view until fully the ’ wh>le horizon from southeast to south-west wap filled with mountains. It looked as if nafturfc had bui t these impossible ramparts to keop forever the secret of the South Role, but as we approached nearer we saw huge glaciers debauching ice into the harrier through great rugged gashes' in the mountains.

WORK OF EXPLORATION AT FOOT OF MOUNTAIN BARRIER 'These are the outlets for the two mile high plate in cf ie3 in the centre of which lies the South Role. Never have I seen su h rugged mountains or such magnificent scenery, great mountain masses rising from sea, level p.eapitiously to thousands of feet-. Peak alber peak towered to heights oi ten, twelve and l.fteen thousand feet. McKinley nil tographed with' his mapp.ng can.era dozens of mountain peaks never before seen. He will develop Ills films so that the world can see what we saw find sronic study at its leisure, and with the mis roscopc these e trn rdinary glacial phenomena. Perhaps one of ti:e biggest moments of the whole expedition was the landing at the foot of the mountains, for landing away from the base on unknown fields is always uncertain and even more so in polar regions with a heavy load aboard. As far as our aviation mission is concerned, and as far as many other vital tilings were concerned, all our eggs were in the plane when the landing was made. All was staked on that la riding. It was an unknown quantity What a colossal moss it would have been lmd we failed. It was one of those risks one must sometimes take in polar regions to win. Smith was giv n the responsibility of landimr on this unknown ground and lie did his stuff. Ho carried the mail to the mountains when we had built our base and had ta'en the air again. We could look (hack at the little pile of food and gasolene. Tt an peared very tiny and utterly lonely there on the great expanse of snow. With three tremendous mountains in the background tliev make our problem a peculiarly difficult one and prevent a non-stop flight to the Pole from Little America.

We cannot earn* a sufficient gasolene load to scale those peaks, reach the Pole and return non-stop. So that is why wo must have gasolene available at the foot of the mountains, where wo shall become short of fuel on our return.