This Spot In Antarctica Is One Of The Most Dangerous Places On Earth

Posted by Noelle Montes on Monday, May 6, 2024

"Outside the hut there is the unending shriek of the blizzard, and inside the air pulsates as the rook bends inwards beneath the pressure of the fiercest gusts," wrote Charles Francis Laseron, whaler and taxidermist who resided at Cape Denison in 1912. As Mawson's Huts continues, Laseron described 18 men barricaded indoors at their expedition's launching point, Cape Denison, for months on end. Daylight sometimes lasted only a few hours, and while many went out to explore "ice caves," others cooked, cleaned, and even acted as barbers. They jumped on any opportunity for the "uproarious delight" of their tiny community, such as birthday parties, drinking, music, dancing, you name it. 

In the end, explorer Frank Bickerton wrote, "It is a queer mixture of 'every man to himself' and 'share and share alike' here," where "each man must keep himself to himself, but anyone who does not realize his duty to others is an impediment, a curse, and might easily become a danger." Folks envisioning John Carpenter's frosty horror masterpiece "The Thing" (1982), you're not alone. Thankfully, Cape Denison contains far less tentacle dogs.

Mawson, the expedition's leader, was dubbed "dux ipse" in Latin (the leader himself) by the men for his "natural reserve." But what else would such a responsibility engender? No protection except wooden planks built like a box against the elements, the jackets strapped around the men inside, and no multi-thousand-dollar, luxury cruises for an easy escape. 

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