In the next valley, under the first glacier east of La Bella Durmiente, was a large modern mine.
We come in sight of the first glacier and it is strange and magnificent, a frozen river of jagged peaks.
"At the first glacier, all we found was a kind of grasshopper peat moss, rotted bodies, tangled legs," said Dr. Lockwood.
As they crossed the first glacier on their return journey Mertz became sick, making progress difficult.
As with the first glacier, they had to unhitch the dogs from the sledges and slowly make the treacherous descent.
The first glacier the Far Eastern Party crossed on the outward journey previously unnamed was named by Mawson after Mertz, becoming the Mertz Glacier.
During this survey he discovered the first glaciers in the United States while studying the extinct volcanoes of Mounts Shasta, Rainier, and Hood.
Except for a possible major deglaciation as recently as 3 million years ago, the continent has been largely covered by ice since the first glaciers appeared.
Others include Mount Joffre (the first glacier-hung peak north of the U.S. border), Mount Assiniboine (the "Matterhorn of the Rockies, Mount Columbiaia (12,294 feet [3,747 metres]; Alberta's highest point), and Mount Forbes.
