A blizzard kept the men in their sleeping-bags on February 21, and it was not until the afternoon of the 23rd that Mackintosh and Joyce made an attempt to lay out the cairns to the west.

They found that two of the dogs had died during the storm, leaving seven dogs to haul the sledge.

They marched a mile and a half to the westward and built a cairn, but the weather was very thick and they did not think it wise to proceed farther.

They could not see more than a hundred yards and the tent was soon out of sight.

They returned to the camp, and stayed there until the morning of February 24, when they started the return march with snow still falling.