had no view of its western part, as this was lost in a thick fog. At
the foot of the Devil's Glacier we established a depot in lat. 86deg.
21', calculated for six days. The hypsometer showed 8,000 feet above
sea level. On November 30 we began to ascend the glacier. The lower
part was much broken up and dangerous, and the thin bridges of snow
over the crevasses often broke under us. From our camp that evening
we had a splendid view of the mountains to the east. Mount Helmer
Hansen was the most remarkable of them all; it was 12,000 feet high,
and covered by a glacier so rugged that in all probability it would
have been impossible to find foothold on it. Here were also Mounts
Oskar Wisting, Sverre Hassel, and Olav Bjaaland, grandly lighted up
by the rays of the sun. In the distance, and only visible from time
to time through the driving mists, we saw Mount Thorvald Nilsen,
with peaks rising to 15,000 feet. We could only see those parts of
them that lay nearest to us. It took us three days to get over the
Devil's Glacier, as the weather was unusually misty.

On December 1 we left the glacier in high spirits. It was cut up by
innumerable crevasses and holes. We were now at a height of 9,370
feet. In the mist and driving snow it looked as if we had a frozen
lake before us; but it proved to be a sloping plateau of ice, full
of small blocks of ice. Our walk across this frozen lake was not
pleasant. The ground under our feet was evidently hollow, and it
sounded as if we were walking on empty barrels. First a man fell
through, then a couple of dogs; but they got up again all right. We
could not, of course, use our ski on this smooth-polished ice, but we
got on fairly well with the sledges. We called this place the Devil's
Ballroom. This part of our march was the most unpleasant of the whole
trip. On December 2 we reached our greatest elevation. According to
the hypsometer and our aneroid barometer we were at a height of 11,075