David Roberts

Describes the epic journey undertaken by Douglas Mawson, who suffered starvation, the loss of his team, and a crippling foot injury as he resorted to crawling back to base camp during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1913.

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

Jeremy Anderberg

With the subtitle "The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration," this is another title that had long been on my reading list. The dead of winter seemed to be the perfect time to dig in.

Don't get me wrong: this is a very good book. But, I do wish the actual survival story encompassed more than just the final third or so. The book is actually sort of a mix of biography of polar explorer Douglas Mawson, as well as a recap of the Antarctic expedition he led from 1911-1913. Part of Roberts' point is to give more credit to that expedition, which doesn't get as much attention as the likes of Shackleton, Amundsen, and Scott.

After that's all taken care of, we get to the truly crazy survival portion.

Mawson and two crewmates made it a few hundred miles from this basecamp along Antarctica's coast. (It should be noted that they found literally the windiest spot on the continent, with average winter wind speeds over 100mph.) On the way back, one crewmate — the one with most of the supplies and sled dogs — fell through an ice crevasse to his death. Eventually, the other crewmate deteriorated as well, and died in madness about 100 miles from basecamp.

So Mawson continued alone, while his own body started to fail him, including the bottoms of his feet basically falling off. At one point he fell through a crevasse and only saved himself by climbing up 20 feet of rope in a severely weakened state — twice. (On his first try, he fell while nearing the top of the ledge.) When he made it back to basecamp, he was so emaciated that nobody there recognized him. They also informed him that the rescue ship had departed just hours earlier, and they would have to stay another entire winter in a small hut. Can you fathom the mental agony? But at least he was alive!

I'm not sure Alone on the Ice quite lives up its subtitle — I've read plenty of crazy survival stories — but it's certainly up there. Read it during the winter if you're feeling bold; read it during the summer if you feel like you need a good chill.

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

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