Alone on the Ice

The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

By: David Roberts

Narrated by: Matthew Brenher

Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

His two companions were dead, his food and supplies had vanished in a crevasse, and Douglas Mawson was still 100 miles from camp.

On January 17, 1913, alone and near starvation, Mawson, leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, was hauling a sledge to get back to base camp. The dogs were gone. Now Mawson himself plunged through a snow bridge, dangling over an abyss by the sledge harness. A line of poetry gave him the will to haul himself back to the surface.

Mawson was sometimes reduced to crawling, and one night he discovered that the soles of his feet had completely detached from the flesh beneath. On February 8, when he staggered back to base, his features unrecognizably skeletal, the first teammate to reach him blurted out, “Which one are you?”

This thrilling and almost unbelievable account establishes Mawson in his rightful place as one of the greatest polar explorers and expedition leaders.

©2013 David Roberts (P)2013 Blackstone

Critic reviews

"Painting a realistic portrait of Aussie explorer Douglas Mawson and his arduous trek through some of the most treacherous icy Antarctic terrain, Roberts gives the reader a very close look at the huge risks and preparations of the nearly impossible feat…Harrowing, exciting and brutally real, Roberts provides a chilling backstory to polar explorer Mawson’s bold solitary survival tale." (Publishers Weekly)

"Mountaineer and prolific author Roberts returns with a vivid history of Australian explorer Douglas Mawson and his 1912 exploration of Antarctica…. Roberts creates a full portrait of Mawson and does justice to what famed mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary would later call 'the greatest survival story in the history of exploration.'" (Kirkus Reviews)

"Douglas Mawson is not as well-known as Amundsen, Scott, or Shackleton, but as this intense and thrilling epic shows, he deserves a place on the pedestal next to these other great explorers of the Antarctic…. This fast-moving account earns for Mawson and his team a well-deserved place of honor in the so-called heroic age of Antarctic exploration." (Booklist)

respect

it took long to finish as helped me sleep. however i do have utmost respect for all involved in making the book possible and even more respect to all whom took part in the adventures.

A miraculous story of survival

The book starts off on the said adventure with no character building before it starts so be prepared for that. The story is put together through the journals of all the men on the adventure to the Antarctica. Very fascinating to hear the struggles for the cause of science and discovery of the unknown world.

Excellent story/overview of early Antarctic study

Most of the book was focused on previous journeys and the earlier portion of the AAE Antarctic expedition. There was a relatively short segment about Mawson and his solo journey back to camp. I didn't understand in the beginning why there would be so much focus on the before but it did help explain how treacherous his journey really was. Good ending and a nice wrap up of what happened to all of the explorers after their journey.

Incredible historical novel!

Amazing story of adventure and survival. Ultimate respect for these heroic men. Narration enhances story.

Read like a text book at times, still I found it interesting

Couple of mistakes in the reading of the book, Lat/long, couple years are not correct. But if you are in to this sort of stuff it’s a great listen.

Alone on the Ice

What an excellent account of the early exploration of Antarctica. Very harrowing and death defying trip of the earliest adventurists to step foot on the Southernmost continent. Scary, but peacefully serene, with death at the door in just one tiny mistake. Where the explorers had not the slightest clue on how to proceed in such an unforgiving setting. Everything was so new to them.

Great

Not quite as exciting as Shackleton’s story, to me anyway, but still an amazing story about the AAE expedition and Antarctic Exploration in the heroic era. If you like this topic, you’ll like this book.

Narration needs closer editing.

Latitude and longitude should be reported in degrees, minutes, and seconds. The narrator erroneously reads a single quote character (‘) as “feet”, when it should be read as “minutes”.

incredible survival story, with a long lead up

There was a slow lead up filled with historical information and background on the characters relationships until the actual survival situation of which I was most interested. The story of survival and then the cabin fever that followed after the rescue was incredible.

Too long

If there is an abridged book that would be a better choice. The book was entirely too long . The amount of detail was overwhelming and boring. The chapters covering Moulson’s journey was very exciting , inspiring and informative. The story could have been told in half the time.