Description:
Rejecting a position on Scott's ill-fated South Pole team, Australian explorer Douglas Mawson sets off with his own plans in December 1911 to explore the unknown Antarctic coast south of Australia. The Home of the Blizzard is Mawson's thrilling account of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which set its base camp in a region of terrific yearlong windstorms and blizzards. Originally published as a two-volume work in 1915, then abridged and reprinted in 1930, this edition replicates the bestselling 1930 volume, which has long been out of print. Unlike most Antarctic expeditions of his day, Mawson's trek had no pole-hunting ambitions, focusing instead on scientific inquiry and mapping, which the international media largely ignored. And indeed, when Mawson left the Antarctic continent, his expedition had amassed more maps of Antarctica than any other to date. But Mawson's journey was no more void of adventure than those exploits of his contemporaries. Mawson's vivid description of the storms, hardships, endurance, tragedy, and survival make this adventure story well worth resurrecting. When his two companions perish, Mawson ventures on an unthinkable solo sledge journey back to his coastal base, a feat nothing short of pure courage. With a forward by renowned polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and four folios of black-and-white photographs from the expedition, Blizzard is a polar classic that adventure enthusiasts are sure to embrace. --Byron Ricks
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