“One might wonder what their real purpose is in these desolate icy lands. The ice tugs at one’s heartstrings, whatever those who have not seen it may say; they return because they want to be there. Its beauty, its aloofness, its weird isolation, are compelling. In the midst of discomfort and danger one can find peace, so rare. Explorers talk of science, but they mean they wish to be where other people cannot go. Perhaps some day, somebody will explain this call of the ice, for it is the call of immobility, of silence, of death, and of a beauty one can realise only by being fortunate enough to have experienced it.”