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Alone on the Ice

The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

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Alone on the Ice

By: David Roberts
Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
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About this listen

His two companions were dead, his food and supplies had vanished in a crevasse, and Douglas Mawson was still 100 miles from camp.

On January 17, 1913, alone and near starvation, Mawson, leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, was hauling a sledge to get back to base camp. The dogs were gone. Now Mawson himself plunged through a snow bridge, dangling over an abyss by the sledge harness. A line of poetry gave him the will to haul himself back to the surface.

Mawson was sometimes reduced to crawling, and one night he discovered that the soles of his feet had completely detached from the flesh beneath. On February 8, when he staggered back to base, his features unrecognizably skeletal, the first teammate to reach him blurted out, “Which one are you?”

This thrilling and almost unbelievable account establishes Mawson in his rightful place as one of the greatest polar explorers and expedition leaders.

©2013 David Roberts (P)2013 Blackstone Adventure Travel Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Travel Writing & Commentary Adventure Polar Region Survival Biography

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Critic reviews

"Painting a realistic portrait of Aussie explorer Douglas Mawson and his arduous trek through some of the most treacherous icy Antarctic terrain, Roberts gives the reader a very close look at the huge risks and preparations of the nearly impossible feat…Harrowing, exciting and brutally real, Roberts provides a chilling backstory to polar explorer Mawson’s bold solitary survival tale." (Publishers Weekly)

"Mountaineer and prolific author Roberts returns with a vivid history of Australian explorer Douglas Mawson and his 1912 exploration of Antarctica…. Roberts creates a full portrait of Mawson and does justice to what famed mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary would later call 'the greatest survival story in the history of exploration.'" (Kirkus Reviews)

"Douglas Mawson is not as well-known as Amundsen, Scott, or Shackleton, but as this intense and thrilling epic shows, he deserves a place on the pedestal next to these other great explorers of the Antarctic…. This fast-moving account earns for Mawson and his team a well-deserved place of honor in the so-called heroic age of Antarctic exploration." (Booklist)
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Amazing story of survival, but not told quite so amazingly. The interesting quotes were from 'The Heart of the Blizzard' so I probably have just read that. The survival story is incredible and so 'Alone on the Ice' is worth a credit if you are into polar or survival stories.

Amazing story of survival, but...

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Interesting to hear how explorers in the old times coped but it lbecomes a bit long and repetitive

Interesting

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Full of admiration for the courage and determination of this rather forgotten Australian Explorer.

Harrowing tale

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This tells the compelling story of a South Polar expedition leader, Douglas Mawson, I had not previously heard of. It was well read and certainly deserved telling. I enjoyed it although in my view it could have been a good bit shorter while maintaining its impact. In fairness the circumstances and nature of the protagonist’s ordeal inevitably make it difficult to avoid repetition.

Amazing story about an overlooked hero

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After hearing the first 5 minutes I thought this would not be for me but the story proved to be far more gripping than I had imagined. The detailed story really gives you a grasp of the hardships of early antarctic expeditions.

more gripping than I expected

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