Saturday, February 13, 2010

13 February, 1911

Camp 12

Quite hard going this morning, cold and a slog in the morning, and although it cleared a bit after lunch, we are now sitting here, five to a tent, with a full blizzard blowing outside. I do not know exactly where some of our party are camped, but hope they got shelter up before it became too tough. We have built large walls behind our ponies to help them. their coats are getting thicker; I see no reason we shouldn't get to the 80th parallel is only the weather would give us a chance.

Bowers is wonderful. He wears no headgear in the night but for a common green felt hat kept on with a chin stay affording no cover whatsoever for the ears, while the rest of us are happy for our thick balaclavas and wind helmets. I have never seen anyone so unaffected by the cold. Tonight he remained outside for an hour pottering about camp performing small jobs while the rest of us were tucked up in our tents.

Cherry-Garrard, too, is remarkable, because without his glasses he is practically as blind as a bat, and the conditions make it very hard for him to see through them, yet you would never guess it. Still, despite these many inconveniences, he manages to do more than his share of camp work.

It is pretty clear to me that these two young fellows are good stuff.

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