The Home of the Blizzard; Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914, vol. 1

The Home of the Blizzard #1

by Douglas Mawson

In The Home of the Blizzard Sir Douglas Mawson records his historic expedition to explore uncharted land in Antarctica. Pitted against formidable natural forces, he and his team faced unrelenting winds with speeds of up to two hundred miles per hour as well as freezing temperatures and day-long blizzards. They traversed the previously unexplored King George V Land directly south of Australia and collected geological samples and magnetic readings. After accident and illness led to the death of his two teammates, a starving and frostbitten Mawson finished one hundred miles of the return journey alone.

Mawson puts the reader at the cold, windy scene with vivid descriptions of the men and their sled dogs persevering over rough terrain. Mawson's thoughts upon losing his colleague Lt. Belgrave Ninnis in a deep, snow-covered crevasse in a glacier or while dangling from his own sled in another crevasse while alone and near death convey the dual excitement and danger that accompany his unique expedition. Readers will be swept up in Sir Douglas Mawson's amazing and historic adventures. The many accompanying photographs taken during the Antarctic trip paint a vivid picture of that harsh and extraordinary land.

548 pages, Hardcover

Published August 9, 2015

About the author

Douglas Mawson (1882-1958) was Australian Antarctic explorer and geologist. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.