Noventa tristes grados

“Wednesday, January 17. – Camp 69. T. -22º at start. Night -21º. The Pole. Yes, but under very different circumstances from those expected. We have had a horrible day –add to our disappointment a head wind 4  to 5, with a temperature -22º, and companions labouring on with cold feet and hands.

We started at 7.30, none of us having slept much after the shock of our discovery. We followed the Norwegian sledge tracks for some way; as fas as we make out there are only two men. In about three miles we passed two small cairns.”

Y es que a media tarde del día anterior “[Bowers] detected a black speck ahead. Soon we knew that this could not be a natural snow feature. We marched on, found that it was a black flag tied to a sledge bearer; near by the remains of a camp; sledge tracks and ski tracks going and coming and the clear trace of dogs’ paws –many dogs. This told us the whole story.The Norwegians have forestalled us and are the first at the Pole. It’s a terrible disappointment, and I am very sorry for my loyal companions.”

Y así, aunque, ya en 1912, la expedición de Scott también alcanzara el Polo Sur, no hubo alegría:

“Great God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.”

Ahora ya, sólo quedaba regresar:

“Now for the run home and a desperate struggle. I wonder if we can do it.”

Créditos:

Extractos de las anotaciones correspondientes a los días 17 y 16 de enero de 1912, de los Diarios del Capitán Robert Falcon Scott, tomados de la edición realizada en 2005 por Max Jones de Journals. Captain Scott’s Last Expedition, y publicada por Oxford University Press en su colección Oxford World’s Classicss, en 2006 y reimpresa en 2008 (pp. 376-377).

Fotografía de los cinco integrantes de la expedición, realizada por el Teniente Bowers, tomada del antedicho libro, donde está publicada con permiso del Scott Polar Research Institute de la Universidad de Cambridge.