One of the things we hoped for in those days was a temperature in the neighbourhood of zero, for then the snow surface would be hard, we would not be troubled by damp, and our gear would not become covered in soft snow.

The killers were blowing all night, and a crack appeared about 20 ft.

from the camp at 2 a.m.

The ice below us was quite thin enough for the killers to break through if they took a fancy to do so, but there was no other camping-ground within our reach and we had to take the risk.

When morning came the snow was falling so heavily that we could not see more than a few score yards ahead, and I decided not to strike camp.