“After a glance over the top I turned to the anxious faces of the two men behind me and said, “Come on, boys.” Within a minute they stood beside me on the ice-ridge. The surface fell away at a sharp incline in front of us, but it merged into a snow-slope. We could not see the bottom clearly owing to mist and bad light, and the possibility of the slope ending in a sheer fall occurred to us; but the fog that was creeping up behind allowed no time for hesitation. There could be no turning back now, so we unroped and slid in the fashion of youthful days.”

— Ernest Shackleton, South

“Coiling the length of rope beneath them, the three men sat down, one behind the other. […] With Shackleton in the front and Crean bringing up the rear, they pushed off towards the pool of darkness far below.”

— Caroline Alexander