Comments on: Nearly iceless Iceland and an icy island

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 10:00:38 +0000

Wow… Am I the only one who sees a bear’s face in the phytoplankton bloom? 30 comments and nobody’s mentioned it! Maybe my imagination’s getting the better of me.

By: Adrian Burd

Adrian Burd — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 18:09:10 +0000

Phil,

Mark (#24) is entirely correct. I’ve stood at the Cape Evans Hut and seen the anchor of the Aurora with its broken chain. Shackleton’s feats were definitely heroic, but he didn’t bring everyone home.

Adrian

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:54:59 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/Endurance-Shackletons-Incredible-Alfred-Lansing/dp/078670621X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350305557&sr=8-1&keywords=endurance+shackleton%27s+incredible+voyage

just read it this year. Trust me – not a boring page. As usual, stories like this trump Hollywood every singe time. As I read the book, I just could not believe what these guys went through.

By: Hedin

Hedin — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:14:07 +0000

Og kvedjur til islendskar braedir fra Canada

By: Hedin

Hedin — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:12:17 +0000

Now try and do that with the Faroe Islands where I grew up. good luck Phil

By: john

john — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:06:14 +0000

@MatrinB most of Shackleton’s men survived the war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_personnel_of_the_Imperial_Trans-Antarctic_Expedition
Many of them signed on for his next expedition.
I agree with all the book recommendations about the expedition and found the dramatization to be pretty decent too – though my reading of South suggests that they went through worse than the movie showed. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272839/
The documentary is good too. http://main.wgbh.org/imax/shackleton/
The documentary includes the three mountaineers who traced Shackleton’s path with modern equipment but needed 3 days.

By: Kristinn

Kristinn — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 02:27:46 +0000

Great post, you can just barely make out my mother’s home town in northern Iceland. And Shackleton’s ‘South’ is one of the most amazing stories I’ve ever read.

One extra bonus from the Endurance expedition is Frank Hurley’s photos from it, including some very early colour Paget plates. Some here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/sets/72157628227139391/with/3535447612/

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:57:53 +0000

Phil, to say Shackelton didn’t lose a a single man on his expedition isn’t entirely correct. Read “Shackelton’s Forgotten Men” by Lennard Bickel for a true story of endurance and hardship of the crew that made the longest polar sledge (199 days) in history to resupply a party that would never come and waited on a rescue that took too long to come.

By: alek

alek — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 20:31:50 +0000

I was fortunate to be able to visit South Georgia in 2009 as part of a trip wayyyyy down South – start here for a complete trip report with pictures – http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/antarctica/

Antarctica is pretty cool (feeble pun attempted) to see … but if you ever get the chance to go, try real hard to do the “triangle” including the Falklands and South Georgia … as they are in many respects even more impressive.

The Shackleton saga is truly amazing … perhaps men were just tougher back then. We actually do to hike the last part of it into the whaling station of Stromness – some pictures here – http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/antarctica/south-georgia_stromness/

And Shackleton died (and was buried) in nearby Grytviken – we had a toast to “The Boss” at his grave … along with his great nephew Johnie Shackleton – http://www.komar.org/faq/travel/vacation/antarctica/south-georgia_grytviken/

Ditto what BA said … if you haven’t read one of the Shackleton books, DO IT … and it’s actually pretty cool to listen on books on tape which we checked out from the Boulder Library for a family road trip.

By: Dave Scruggs

Dave Scruggs — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:17:13 +0000

Shackelton had big brass balls that clanked when he walked. He’s the guy I would want when the chips were down.

D. Scruggs
Captain, Boulder Creek Fire