Camp 3. We have everything ready to start – but this afternoon we tried our one pair of snow-shoes on ‘Weary Willy.’ The effect was magical. He strolled around as though walking on hard ground in places where he floundered woefully without them. Oates hasn’t had any faith in these shoes at all, and I thought that even the quietest pony would need to be practised in their use.
Immediately after our experiment I decided that an effort must be made to get more, and within half an hour Meares and Wilson were on their way to the station more than 20 miles away. There is just the chance that the ice may not have gone out, but it is a very poor one I fear. At present it looks as though we might double our distance with the snow-shoes.
Atkinson is better to-day, but not by any means well, so that the delay is in his favour. We cannot start on till the dogs return with or without the shoes. The only other hope for this journey is that the Barrier gets harder farther out, but I feel that the prospect of this is not very bright. In any case it is something to have discovered the possibilities of these shoes.
Low temperature at night for first time. Min. 2.4º. Quite warm in tent.