MYSTERY MOUNTAINS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 830, 26 November 1929, Page 9

MYSTERY MOUNTAINS

CAMERA REVEALS MANY PEAKS NEAR POLE

NEW KNOWLEDGE GAINED Bv BUSSELL. OWEX Copyrighted, 1928, by the “New York Times” company and the St. Louis "PostDispatch.” All rights for publication reserved throughout the world. Wireless to the “New York Times.” Reed. 9.5 a.m. BAY OF WHALES, Sun. The fair weather which lasted a week, and made flying to the mountain base possible, ended in a stiff blow. Clouds began to gather last night as the wind shifted, and in the night the wind hauled round to the east and blew so much drift along the surface that it covered the windows of the houses, so that every one in the administration. building overslept himself. Digging out the windows now is a job, for one has to go down nearly 10 feet, and near the bottom it is quite a heave to throw the snow out of the hole. The contrasts in the weather here are astonishing. For several days the sun shone out of a cloudless sky, with a gentle wind from the South that kept the air clear all the way to the mountains, and even over the plateau, but the day before yesterday it began to cloud up inland, where the geological party was plugging along with its dog teams, and yesterday clouds began to form here. The thermometer went up to IS degrees above zero, but last night, when the wind shifted, the mercury began sliding down rapidly below zero. UNCERTAIN WEATHER The weather is always uncertain here, and clears or gets thick as the cold air shifts out from the interior, or the warm air blows in from the sea. Today there seems to be every prospect of several days’ overcast weather, and strong winds from the east, the point from which come most of the blizzards that strike Little America. This period of waiting, however, has its advantages, as it permits necessary work to be done on the big plane. The causes of the heavy gasoline consumption on the recent base-laying flight, which brought about the forced landing, have been found and remedied, and in a flight test yesterday the consumption was found to be normal. Nevertheless, getting the plane over the hump of mountains and back to the base will require skilful handling, because of the fuel load, an<l the added weight of the mapping apparatus, its operator, and the food and equipment needed for him in the case of a forced landing. Altogether it adds more than 6001 b to the load.

Commander Byrd’s original plans, based on the known performance of the plane, provided for a pilot and a radio-operator, besides himself, and a load which could be carried to the necessary height to fly over the 10,000 foot plateau. WRONG THEORIES The value of the mapping camera became apparent on the aerial survey of the Rockefeller Range last year, and the pictures of the mountains obtained on the flight last week have increased everyone’s appreciation of their geographical importance. The camera shows mountains 100 miles away, and so many peaks were disclosed even on this preliminary flight at an altitude of only 5,000 feet that it is evident that on the polar flight some remarkable results may be obtained. Enough has already been learned from the aerial film exposed on the base-laying flight to indicate that mountain ranges and lands lie in different positions, and run' in different directions, from what had been supposed, so that an entirely new conception of the land to the east of the Axel Heiberg Glacier may be gained from a careful study of the mapping photographs made on this flight and on the polar flight, so Commander Byrd has decided to add to the difficulty of carrying the load over the high mountain range, because of the importance of the aerial survey which will be obtained. • Dr. Gould’s geological party laid Depot No. 5 at latitude 82.35, which is 270 miles south of Little America. The party had a hard, slow trip from Depot 4, where they picked up an additional load for the mountains. They received radio messages from the plane aloft. On the next flight, Commander Byrd plans to drop aerial photographs of the mountains, which.will help Dr. Gould in determining the method and approach of the mountains, for geological data.