The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 21: The Recent Days (1910-1914)
History
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 21: The Recent Days (1910-1914)
World history
From the camp of that night we had a superb view of the eastern
mountain range. Belonging to it we saw a mountain of more wonderful
form than I have ever seen before. The altitude of the mountain was
12,300 feet; its peaks roundabout were covered by a glacier. It looked
as if Nature, in a fit of anger, had dropped sharp cornered ice blocks
on the mountain. This mountain was christened "Helmer-Hansen Mountain,"
and became our best point of reference. There we saw also the "Oscar
Wisting Mountains," the "Olav Bjaaland Mountains," the "Sverre Hassel
Mountains," which, dark and red, glittered in the rays of the midnight
sun and reflected a white and blue light. In the distance the mountains
seen before loomed up romantically; they looked very high when one saw
them through the thick clouds and masses of fog which passed over them
from time to time and occasionally allowed us to catch glimpses of
their mighty peaks and their broken glaciers. For the first time we saw
the "Thorvald Nilsen Mountain," which has a height of 16,400 feet.
It took us three days to climb the "Devil's Glacier." On the first of
December we had left behind us this glacier with its crevasses and
bottomless pits and were now at an elevation of 9,350 feet above sea
level. In front of us lay an inclined block-covered ice plateau which,
in the fog and snow, had the appearance of a frozen lake. Traveling
over this "Devil's Ball Room," as we called the plateau, was not
particularly pleasant. Southeasterly storms and snow flurries occurred
daily, during which we could see absolutely nothing. The floor on which
we were walking was hollow beneath us; it sounded as if we were going
over empty barrels. We crossed this disagreeable and uncanny region as
quickly as was compatible with the great care we had to exercise, for
during the whole time we were thinking of the unwelcome possibility of
sinking through.
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