About 3.20 the Skipper, who had tied himself to the rear of the sledge, found it impossible to proceed.

So after a consultation with Wild and party, decided to pitch their tent, leaving Wild to look after the Skipper and Spencer-Smith, and make the best of our way to the depot, which is anything up to twelve miles away.

So we made them comfortable and left them about 3.40.

I told Wild I should leave as much as possible and get back 26th or 27th, weather permitting, but just as we left them it came on to snow pretty hard, sun going in, and we found even with the four dogs we could not make more than one-half to three-quarters of a mile an hour.

The surface is so bad that sometimes you go in up to your waist; still in spite of all this we carried on until 6.35.Camped in a howling blizzard.