Episode 2 "Alone on the Ice" - Douglas Mawson's Antarctic Nightmare

Episode 2 "Alone on the Ice" - Douglas Mawson's Antarctic Nightmare Summary: In 1912, Australian geologist Douglas Mawson found himself stranded 300 miles from base camp in Antarctica after both his companions and most of his sled dogs perished. When his teammate Belgrave Ninnis fell into a crevasse, taking their tent, most of their food, and the best sled dogs with him, Mawson and Xavier Mertz began a desperate retreat across the frozen wasteland. After Mertz died from what was likely vitamin A poisoning from eating dog livers, Mawson continued alone for 30 more days. With his feet literally falling apart—the soles detaching due to vitamin deficiency—Mawson improvised snowshoes from wooden equipment, cut his sled in half to lighten the load, and crawled when he could no longer walk. He reached his expedition's base camp at Cape Denison only to discover the rescue ship had departed just hours earlier, forcing him to endure another winter in Antarctica before rescue. His survival against the most extreme conditions on Earth remains a testament to human endurance and psychological resilience.