On January 17, 1913, alone and near starvation, Douglas Mawson, leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, was hauling a sledge to get back to base camp. The dogs were gone. Now Mawson himself plunged through a snow bridge, dangling over an abyss by the sledge harness. A line of poetry gave him the will to haul himself back to the surface.
Mawson was sometimes reduced to crawling, and one night he discovered that the soles of his feet had completely detached from the flesh beneath. On February 8, when he staggered back to base, his features unrecognizably skeletal, the first teammate to reach him blurted out, "Which one are you?"
This thrilling and almost unbelievable account establishes Mawson in his rightful place as one of the greatest polar explorers and expedition leaders. It is illustrated by a trove of Frank Hurley's famous Antarctic photographs, many never before published in the United States.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
"An important missing story from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, this book will steal the night from you. Gripping and superb." -- Laurence Gonzales, author of Surviving Survival "Others have written the loose outlines of Douglas Mawson's astonishing survival against the worst conditions that Antarctica can deliver-a lesser-known but equally compelling epic as that of Ernest Shackleton-but Roberts's telling trumps them all." -- Gordon Wiltsie, author of To the Ends of the Earth "This is Roberts at his best, telling a little-known tale of adventure, tragedy, and endurance. Mawson may be the most famous Australian explorer, and Alone on the Ice is an admirable introduction of him to American readers." -- Greg Child, author of Over the Edge "An accurate and enthralling account of the greatest story of polar exploration and survival. Roberts takes the reader back to a time of hardship, collective friendship, and a level of determination unknown in todays culture. This book will make you cherish every meal and the joys of a warm bed." -- Conrad Anker, coauthor of The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mt. Everest "If you like frostbite-inducing weather and death-defying adventure stories, then award-winning author David Roberts gives you what you want: a wonderfully told, impressively researched tale of brave explorers confronting Antarctic blizzards, a deadly landscape pockmarked with deep crevasses and intrepid men trying to come back alive." -- Chuck Leddy
Sprache
Verlagsort
Illustrationen
24 pages of illustrations
Maße
Höhe: 244 mm
Breite: 168 mm
Dicke: 30 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-393-24016-0 (9780393240160)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
David Roberts (1943-2021) was the author of thirty books on mountaineering, exploration, and anthropology. His books have won the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature and the Grand Prize at the Banff Mountain Book Competition.
