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Before the winter set in at Shackleton's base, a party of six set out to climb Mount Erebus - almost as high as the Matterhorn in Europe. They set out with improvised rucksacks and crampons made out of leather and nails.
Despite their poor equipment and clothing they survived a 36-hour blizzard at 3,050m (10,000 feet). The summit was eventually reached and the altitude measured as 4,100m (13,500 feet) using a hypsometer.
Hypsometer: a small cylinder in which distilled water is boiled and the temperature measured. The temperature at which water boils drops with altitude.
This was not only the first ascent of Mount Erebus but the first ascent of any peak in the Antarctic. The summit party included Mawson and Mackay.
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