Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, Photos

Troll Castle
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
Explorers may have sighted Queen Maud Land’s coast in 1820, but its grand mountains, such as the Troll Castle [pictured] remained unknown until 1939, when Germans made aerial photos. Today the region’s virgin peaks and otherworldly terrain exert a magnetic pull on top climbers [such as the six-person expedition, covered in this gallery, who summitted never before scaled peaks].
—From "On the Edge of Antarctica: Queen Maud Land," February 1998, National Geographic magazine
The Jaw of Fenris
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
"Anywhere else on Earth these peaks would be a national park," says [photographer] Gordon [Wiltsie] of the crags of Fenriskjeften—'the Jaw of Fenris' in Norwegian. Evoking a row of flesh-tearing teeth, they get their telling name from a fierce wolf in Norse myth.
—From "On the Edge of Antarctica: Queen Maud Land," February 1998, National Geographic magazine
The Razor From Base Camp
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
Rakekniven (The Razor), part of the Filchner Mountains, rears 2,000 feet [610 meters] above the mile-high [1.6-kilometer-high] base camp.
—From "On the Edge of Antarctica: Queen Maud Land," February 1998, National Geographic magazine
Ratcheting Up Rakekniven
Photograph by Gordon Wiltsie
With nothing but empty air beneath his boots, Conrad Anker ratchets himself up Rakekniven using a rope-ascending device. Anchored ropes left in place provided a shortcut for going up and down the mountain—plus a lifeline to the ground should a sudden storm threaten to trap the team on the exposed wall.
—From "On the Edge of Antarctica: Queen Maud Land," February 1998, National Geographic magazine