Beardmore Glacier

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Image:Beardmore Glacier - Antarctica.JPG

Aerial view of the Beardmore Glacier in 1956.

The Beardmore Glacier (83°45′S, 171°00′E) in Antarctica is one of the largest glaciers in the world, with a length exceeding 160 km (100 mi). The glacier is one of the main passages from the Ross Ice Shelf through the Queen Alexandra and Commonwealth ranges of the Transantarctic Mountains to the Antarctic Plateau, and was one of the early routes to the South Pole.

The glacier was discovered by Ernest Shackleton during his Nimrod Antarctic expedition of 1908. Although Shackleton turned back before reaching the South Pole, he had discovered the first proven route to the pole, and in doing so, became the first person to set foot upon the great polar plateau. In 1911-1912, Captain Scott and his team successfully reached the South Pole by climbing the Beardmore. However, they reached the pole a month after Roald Amundsen and his team, who had climbed the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier.

Beardmore Glacier is named after Sir William Beardmore, a Scottish industrialist and expedition sponsor born in 1856.