The Worst Journey in the World
(Written Nov 2, posted Nov 7)
When I visited my dad this summer, our friend, Fred Dunham, loaned me his copy of the book “The Worst Journey in the World” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It is record of Scott’s second (and final) expedition to Antarctica, and “Cherry” was on the trip. This is supposed to be one of the best books about the science investigations and trip to the South Pole ever written, and it is excellent. (I can’t say that it’s the best since it’s the only one I’ve even started reading.) I’m up to Chapter 6 “The First Winter”.
In the first late summer to early fall that the expedition was in Antarctica, Cherry, Scott, and others were caught at Hut Point, and they stayed in Discovery Hut, which I described in an earlier post. Interestingly, I thought that they must have been miserable - cold, short of food, etc. Cherry says that they were cold and short of food. However, he loved his time there; it provided some of his fondest memories of the expedition. They had plenty of time to sleep and explore the area, whereas for the previous weeks, they had been pulling heavy sledges, working with ponies and dogs who were pulling sledges, or rescuing the ponies, dogs, and each other. Cherry also extensively quotes a letter written by Bowers, another expedition member, to his mother. In this letter, Bowers states that this time at Discovery Hut provided everything he could want. The companionship was excellent, life was simple, with only the bare minimum. There were plenty of seals for food, blubber to burn, and skins to repair boots. It was a lot of work to kill and butcher the seals, but they provided what the men needed. This bare minimum showed how little the conveniences of a more comfortable existence mattered. When some of the party made it to the winter quarters at Cape Evans (traveling on very thin, unstable sea ice) and then back with supplies, those who had been at Discovery Hut that Cherry quotes all felt a great loss. In fact, those who did not go to Cape Evans wanted to limit their consumption of the new supplies, fearing that the newcomers who had not learned the ways of Discovery Hut would want to eat all the luxuries at once.
We have luxury. Tyler just called in our first food resupply. We’re out of things like crackers, butter, and bread, but we will get them within the week. If the weather in McMurdo is bad, the helicopters won’t fly, and it could be a few days. However, we have enough calories to keep going for more than a month.
Perception of comfort depends so much on past experience, expectations, and adaptability.
When I visited my dad this summer, our friend, Fred Dunham, loaned me his copy of the book “The Worst Journey in the World” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. It is record of Scott’s second (and final) expedition to Antarctica, and “Cherry” was on the trip. This is supposed to be one of the best books about the science investigations and trip to the South Pole ever written, and it is excellent. (I can’t say that it’s the best since it’s the only one I’ve even started reading.) I’m up to Chapter 6 “The First Winter”.
In the first late summer to early fall that the expedition was in Antarctica, Cherry, Scott, and others were caught at Hut Point, and they stayed in Discovery Hut, which I described in an earlier post. Interestingly, I thought that they must have been miserable - cold, short of food, etc. Cherry says that they were cold and short of food. However, he loved his time there; it provided some of his fondest memories of the expedition. They had plenty of time to sleep and explore the area, whereas for the previous weeks, they had been pulling heavy sledges, working with ponies and dogs who were pulling sledges, or rescuing the ponies, dogs, and each other. Cherry also extensively quotes a letter written by Bowers, another expedition member, to his mother. In this letter, Bowers states that this time at Discovery Hut provided everything he could want. The companionship was excellent, life was simple, with only the bare minimum. There were plenty of seals for food, blubber to burn, and skins to repair boots. It was a lot of work to kill and butcher the seals, but they provided what the men needed. This bare minimum showed how little the conveniences of a more comfortable existence mattered. When some of the party made it to the winter quarters at Cape Evans (traveling on very thin, unstable sea ice) and then back with supplies, those who had been at Discovery Hut that Cherry quotes all felt a great loss. In fact, those who did not go to Cape Evans wanted to limit their consumption of the new supplies, fearing that the newcomers who had not learned the ways of Discovery Hut would want to eat all the luxuries at once.
We have luxury. Tyler just called in our first food resupply. We’re out of things like crackers, butter, and bread, but we will get them within the week. If the weather in McMurdo is bad, the helicopters won’t fly, and it could be a few days. However, we have enough calories to keep going for more than a month.
Perception of comfort depends so much on past experience, expectations, and adaptability.
