Thesaurus

crevasse

2nd. May 1955 Mawson

They are merely long orderly gutters in the ice; sometimes made evident by snow piled higher than on the ice and sometimes by slumped whiteness. Where the ice is pressed between protruding mountains, they narrow and look snaky and venomous. I went back carefully and saw that the slot was deep, not well filled with snow, and radiantly blue below and felt inclined to worship it - the hungry depth of wonderful colour.

18th. January 1956 Mawson

The ragged tears in the ice surface are plainest at this time of year when most snow cover has blown or melted. The weasel continually dodges suddenly to cross them at right angles. For a time the crevasses run parallel, but at times they fork and cross each other, and these parts are best skirted. From the sledge the purpilish light from these man-traps is very plain and for a while this chills us more than the cold wind.

Occasionally packed snow at their top drops from beneath us with a quick sighing sound that matches our own catch of breath as we pass over or beside it.

Jack Ward, Radio operater with Australian Antarctic Division, Mawson diary (1955)