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OHYAT: Safe and Sound at Home Again
Aug. 1st, 2011 06:50 amONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY: The Crozier Party finally arrived back at Cape Evans.
They'd camped the previous night in their tent inside the hut at Hut Point, to conserve heat in as small a space as possible – the hut itself was uninsulated and therefore frigid. Taking advantage of the oil stored there they ran two Primus stoves in their tent that night. Then they were off for home (for a given value of 'home') in what seemed like blazing daylight to them; they'd been in the shadow of the mountains of Ross Island the whole time, and the daylight had returned to the sunward side of the island to a greater degree than they'd expected.
As had become their habit they slept while walking, and by mid-afternoon had passed Glacier Tongue, roughly halfway, so they stopped to have lunch.
They'd camped the previous night in their tent inside the hut at Hut Point, to conserve heat in as small a space as possible – the hut itself was uninsulated and therefore frigid. Taking advantage of the oil stored there they ran two Primus stoves in their tent that night. Then they were off for home (for a given value of 'home') in what seemed like blazing daylight to them; they'd been in the shadow of the mountains of Ross Island the whole time, and the daylight had returned to the sunward side of the island to a greater degree than they'd expected.
As had become their habit they slept while walking, and by mid-afternoon had passed Glacier Tongue, roughly halfway, so they stopped to have lunch.
As we began to gather our gear together to pack up for the last time, Bill said quietly, "I want to thank you two for what you have done. I couldn't have found two better companions—and what is more I never shall."
I am proud of that.
( Cherry's account of their Triumphant Return )
Antarctic exploration is seldom as bad as you imagine, seldom as bad as it sounds. But this journey had beggared our language: no words could express its horror.But Cherry also writes:Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World
How good the memories of those [last few] days are. With jokes about Birdie's picture hat: with songs we remembered off the gramophone: with ready words of sympathy for frost-bitten feet: with generous smiles for poor jests: with suggestions of happy beds to come. We did not forget the Please and Thank you, which mean much in such circumstances, and all the little links with decent civilization which we could still keep going. I'll swear there was still a grace about us when we staggered in. And we kept our tempers — even with God.
