On January 23 a thick fog obscured all landmarks, and as bearings of the mountains were now necessary the party had to camp at 11 a.m., after travelling only four miles.  The thick weather continued over the 24th, and the men did not move again until the morning of the 25th.  They did 17¾ miles that day, and camped at 6 p.m. on the edge of “the biggest ice-pressure” Joyce had ever seen.  They were steering in towards the mountains and were encountering the tremendous congestion created by the flow of the Beardmore Glacier into the barrier ice.

“We decided to keep the camp up,” ran Joyce’s account of the work done on January 26.  “Skipper, Richards, and myself roped ourselves together, I taking the lead, to try and find a course through this pressure.  We came across very wide crevasses, went down several, came on top of a very high ridge, and such a scene!  Imagine thousands of tons of ice churned up to a depth of about 300 ft.  We took a couple of photographs, then carried on to the east.  At last we found a passage through, and carried on through smaller crevasses to Mount Hope, or we hoped it was the mountain by that name.  We can see a great glacier ahead which we take for the Beardmore, which this mountain is on, but the position on the chart seems wrong. [It was not.—­E.H.S.] We nearly arrived at the ice-foot when Richards saw something to the right, which turned out to be two of Captain Scott’s sledges, upright, but three-quarters buried in snow.  Then we knew for certain this was the place we had struggled to get to.  So we climbed the glacier on the slope and went up about one and a quarter miles, and saw the great Beardmore Glacier stretching to the south.  It is about twenty-five miles wide—­a most wonderful sight.  Then we returned to our camp, which we found to be six miles away.  We left at 8 a.m. and arrived back at 3 p.m., a good morning’s work.  We then had lunch.  About 4 p.m. we got under way and proceeded with the two sledges and camped about 7 o’clock.  Wild, Hayward and myself then took the depot up the Glacier, a fortnight’s provisions.  We left it lashed to a broken sledge and put up a large flag.  I took two photographs of it.  We did not arrive back until 10.30 p.m.  It was rather a heavy pull up.  I was very pleased to see our work completed at last....  Turned in 12 o’clock.  The distance done during day 22 miles.”

The party remained in camp until 3.30 p.m. on the 27th, owing to a blizzard with heavy snow.  Then they made a start in clearer weather and got through the crevassed area before camping at 7 p.m.  Joyce was suffering from snow-blindness.  They were now homeward bound, with 365 miles to go.  They covered 16½ miles on the 28th, with Joyce absolutely blind and hanging to the harness for guidance, “but still pulling his whack.”  They reached Spencer-Smith’s camp the next afternoon and found him in his sleeping-bag, quite unable to walk.  Joyce’s diary of this date contains a rather gloomy reference to the outlook, since he guessed that Mackintosh also would be unable to make the homeward march.  “The dogs are still keeping fit,” he added.  “If they will only last to 80° S. we shall then have enough food to take them in, and then if the ship is in I guarantee they will live in comfort the remainder of their lives.”