Contrary to the journal’s usual policy of reviewing only newly published books, the book review editor recently rediscovered this classic 1931 book and found it a perfect candidate for new readers and, therefore, we are “resurrecting” this timeless book about a unique polar adventure. The 1st edition of this classic tome is available in libraries and secondhand bookstores, as well as limited editions republished by Carleton College in hardback in 1984, and in 2011 in paperback (ISBN 0974637998). Additionally, an Electronic version is available for Kindle by Red Kestrel Books (November 22, 2019), 320 pages, (ASIN: B082BKKVRB.15). The reviewed copy was a secondhand 1931 1st Edition from the book editor’s personal library.
Cold: The Record of an Antarctic Sledge Journey is a personal account of the exploits of the Geological Party of the 1928–1930 Byrd Antarctic Expedition. The Geological Party was tasked by Admiral (then Commander) Richard E. Byrd with setting up beacons and laying food caches for the first airplane flight over the South Pole and, while doing so, to conduct a geological investigation of the Queen Maud Mountains (140°–170° W, 85°–86° S). These were the major exploratory and scientific tasks of the Expedition, led by Byrd, with Larry Gould as chief scientist and second-in-command.
The book is of exceptional historic and geologic interest. It describes original discoveries that led to an understanding of the continental scale of the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM), the clear evidence of a once-much-greater thickness of the continental ice sheet, the discovery of the scale of coal deposits in the TAM and its implications for the past climate of Antarctica, and the beginnings of an understanding of how the continental ice sheet and tributary glaciers drain ice from the polar plateau to floating ice shelves and to the sea. All of this is described by a first-rate geologist filled with the wonder of making major scientific discoveries, while narrowly averting disaster crossing crevasse-riddled glaciers and enduring −40°F cold.
Roald Amundsen had traversed the Queen Maud Mountains in 1911, via the Axel Heiberg glacier, en route to the South Pole. His success as the first to reach the pole was achieved in large measure because he did not delay to make scientific observations but also because he was more efficient using dogs and was a veteran of polar travel on skis. He did record geographical observations and made a preliminary map, all described by Gould and used to advantage by his party.
Robert Falcon Scott led a team of scientists on his ill-fated 1911–1912 expedition up the Beardmore Glacier to his disappointing discovery that Amundsen had beaten him to the pole by one month. Gould alludes to the possibility that Scott and his men might have returned to McMurdo safely, had they not been delayed by scientific work and burdened by samples.
The area explored by Gould and his party is about 400 km southeast of the Beardmore Glacier area explored by Shackleton, and then Scott—far enough that he could begin to infer that he was seeing the continental scale of his observations. It required a long, difficult climb up roughly 2,000 ft (Gould’s estimate) of near-vertical relief to demonstrate that the bedded deposits seen from afar at the summit of Mount Fridtjof Nansen were the same Beacon sandstones, interbedded with coal and laced by dolerite dikes, as the deposits Shackleton and Scott had described. He describes his feelings at this discovery as follows:
“No symphony I have ever heard, no work of art before which I have stood in awe ever gave me quite the thrill that I had when I reached out after that strenuous climb and picked up a piece of rock to find it sandstone. It was just the rock I had come all the way to Antarctica to find.” Gould explored about 125 km east of the Axel Heiberg Glacier and was able to see that the yet-to-be-named TAM continued on eastward, as Amundsen had suspected.
Gould’s observations are fascinating, because they are initial impressions of a scientist on his first trip to “the ice,” at a time when little was known about Antarctica and very few had been there. Crevasses receive the most attention. He describes peering down into the blue depths of crevasses hundreds of feet deep, some narrow enough to step across but others 10 ft or more across, which, if they couldn’t be circumnavigated, had to be crossed on snow bridges that often collapsed just as dogs, sledges, and men (all wearing skis to distribute the weight) were safely across. These were a continual hazard throughout their field season.
Other surprises included mirages that made gentle slopes look like cliffs, because the reflecting horizon was above ground level. Any movement of the air would cause the mirage to dance above and below the horizon. They also discovered, to their dismay, that when temperatures fell below −20°F snow does not melt beneath sledge runners and acts like sand, slowing their progress and tiring the dogs quickly. Gould’s first impressions of these features are more than interesting to those who have spent time on the ice sheet, and they will be revelatory to those who have not. His descriptions convey a sense of surprise and discovery that are likely to resonate, even with those unfamiliar with polar travel.
Cold will appeal to people interested in a tale of outdoor adventure, but it will be especially appealing to geologists because of its historical significance. I had the pleasure and privilege about fifty years ago, as a young assistant professor, of entertaining Larry Gould at dinner in our home just after my first trip to the ice, when he was visiting Cornell University. It was a bit daunting at first, to entertain the chief scientist and second-in-command of the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition and the former president of Carleton College. He was a thoroughly unpretentious and engaging man who immediately put me and my wife at ease and was a most congenial guest. His writing reflects what he was like as a man—entertaining, engaging, and full of interesting stories. I greatly enjoyed his book and recommend it highly to anyone interested in reading a good polar adventure story.