Research Catalog

Title

Across Greenland's ice cap : the remarkable Swiss scientific expedition of 1912 / Alfred de Quervain.

Author

Quervain, Alfred de, 1879-1927

Publication

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xxxiv, 147 pages, 62 pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps; 25 cm

Summary

"As polar exploration reached its zenith, and in the same month that Captain Robert Falcon Scott perished in Antarctica, four young scientists from Zurich took ship for Greenland. Though they had little previous experience of arctic travel, their ambition was to achieve the first west-to-east crossing of the northern hemisphere's largest ice cap, making scientific observations along the way. Few outside Switzerland have heard of this expedition or its leader, the meteorologist Alfred de Quervain, in spite of its success. In thirty-one days in the summer of 1912, the party sledded across 640 kilometers of untracked snow and ice. Nobody died or fell into a crevasse, although there were some near misses. The voyage was more than a well-executed feat of arctic travel: de Quervain and his colleagues collected data still used today by scientists researching the effects of climate change on Greenland's ice cap. De Quervain's popular account of his adventures, published in German in 1914, is both a minor classic of exploration literature and a sympathetic portrayal of life in Greenland's remote coastal settlements in the early twentieth century. Published to coincide with the expedition's 110th anniversary, Across Greenland's Ice Cap includes the explorer's original text, translated into English by his daughter and son-in-law; a historical and biographical introduction by Martin Hood; reflections on the journey's scientific legacy by the geographers Andreas Vieli and Martin Lüthi; and a treasure trove of hand-tinted lantern slides reproduced in full colour."--

Uniform Title

Durch Grönlands Eiswüste. English

Alternative Title

Durch Grönlands Eiswüste.

Subject

• Quervain, Alfred de, 1879-1927 > Travel > Greenland
• Schweizerische Grönland-Expedition (1912-1913)
• 1912-1913
• Scientific expeditions > Greenland
• Discoveries in geography
• Scientific expeditions
• Travel
• Greenland > Discovery and exploration
• Arctic regions > Discovery and exploration
• Arctic Regions
• Greenland
• Polar regions

Note

• Translation of: Quer durchs Grönlandeis: Die Expeditionen 1909 und 1912/13.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in electronic format.

Contents

ACROSS GREENLAND'S ICE CAP -- 1. Plans and Preparations -- 2. The Sea Voyage -- 3. Old Friends -- 4. The Dog School -- 5. Northward with the Fox -- 6. Crossing the Rock Border -- 7. To the Inland Ice Lake -- 8. Over the Top of Greenland's Firn Region -- 9. Eastern Mountains Ahead! -- 10. To Angmagssalik by Umiak -- 11. With the Eastern Eskimos -- 12. Return via Iceland: Scientific Results.

Call Number

JFE 22-4935

ISBN

• 9780228010661
• 0228010667

OCLC

1274200963

Author

Quervain, Alfred de, 1879-1927, author.

Title

Across Greenland's ice cap : the remarkable Swiss scientific expedition of 1912 / Alfred de Quervain.

Publisher

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Additional Formats

Issued also in electronic format.

Local Note

TRANSLATED FROM DANISH. INCLUDES COLOR AND B&W ILLUSTRATIONS.

Chronological Term

1912-1913

Other Form:

Online version: Quervain, Alfred de, 1879-1927. Quer durchs Grönlandeis. English. Across Greenland's ice cap. Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2022 022801266X 9780228012665 (OCoLC)1288333928

Research Call Number

JFE 22-4935