"One must greatly admire Stuart Paine, who on my Grandfather Byrd's '33-'34 expedition to the South Pole, navigated his dog team as far south as any man, except Amundsen and Scott. He writes of braving incredible hardships with the confidence, and even nonchalance, of a resourceful, extremely capable, and hardworking New Hampshire yankee. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this diary."—Richard E. Byrd, III 

“In Footsteps on the Ice we find a man with boundless energy and enthusiasm who felt responsible for the expedition and took it upon himself to tackle any task, no matter how messy and dirty. We feel his different moods during the long, dark winter night where the men were in close contact with each other. Stuart Paine's courage and determination shine for all to see.”—Leverett Byrd 

“Footsteps on the Ice is a very special diary! It was written on a day-to-day basis by a dog sled driver during Admiral Byrd's second Antarctic expedition. Unlike most diaries that dryly record the events of the day, this one transports the reader to Antarctica to experience what the writer was experiencing as he explored a section of the earth never before seen. Read it and enjoy!”—Captain Brian Shoemaker, USN (ret.), Former Commander of Operation Deep Freeze 

“Here at last is an exciting insider’s look at what really went on during an Antarctic expedition. Paine takes readers back to an earlier era and puts them into the hut with the explorers.”—T. H. Baughman, author of Pilgrims on the Ice: Robert Falcon Scott’s First Antarctic Expedition 

“Footsteps on the Ice captures the thrill and pain of dogsledding across unexplored Antarctica seven decades ago, at the transition to mechanized surface and air transportation. Paine's unedited and very candid comments on his fellows "on the ice" during the winter beneath the snow, and over the ice sheet the following summer, charmingly capture the naïve grumbling of a 23-year old, and his inspired awe at the beauty of Antarctica.”—John C. Behrendt, author of The Ninth Circle: A Memoir of Life and Death in Antarctica, 1960–1962

In 1933 Antarctica was essentially unexplored. Admiral Richard Byrd launched his Second Expedition to chart the southernmost continent, primarily relying on the muscle power of dog teams and their drivers who skied or ran beside the loaded sledges as they traveled. The life-threatening challenges of moving glaciers, invisible crevasses, and horrific storms compounded the difficulties of isolation, darkness, and the unimaginable cold that defined the men’s lives.

Stuart Paine was a dog driver, radio operator, and navigator on the fifty-six-man expedition, the bold and complex venture that is now famous for Byrd’s dramatic rescue from Bolling Advance Weather Base located 115 miles inland. Paine’s diaries represent the only published contemporary account written by a member of the Second Expedition. They reveal a behind-the-scenes look at the contentiousness surrounding the planned winter rescue of Byrd and offer unprecedented insights into the expedition’s internal dynamics.

Equally riveting is Paine’s breathtaking narrative of the fall and summer field operations as the field parties depended on their own resources in the face of interminable uncertainty and peril. Undertaking the longest and most hazardous sledging journey of the expedition, Paine guided the first American party from the edge of the Ross Sea more than seven hundred miles up the Ross Ice Shelf and the massive Thorne (Scott) Glacier to approach the South Pole. He and two other men skied more than fourteen hundred miles in eighty-eight days to explore and map part of Antarctica for the first time.

Footsteps on the Ice reveals the daily struggles, extreme personalities, and the matter-of-fact bravery of early explorers who are now fading into history. Detailing the men’s frustrations, annoyances, and questioning of their leader, Paine’s entries provide rare insight into how Byrd conducted his expeditions. Paine exposes the stresses of living under the snow in Little America during the four-month-long winter night, trapped in dim, crowded huts and black tunnels, while the men uneasily mulled over their leader’s isolation at Advance Base. The fates of Paine’s dogs, which provided some of his most difficult and rewarding experiences, are also described—his relationship with Jack, his lead dog, is an entrancing story in itself.

Featuring previously unpublished photographs and illustrations, Footsteps on the Ice documents the period in Antarctic exploration that bridged the “heroic era” and the modern age of mechanized travel. Depicting almost incomprehensible mental and physical duress and unhesitating courage, Paine’s tale is one of the most compelling stories in polar history, surpassing other accounts with its immediacy and adventure as it captures the majesty and mystery of the untouched Antarctic.

About the Author
            M. L. Paine, the daughter of Stuart Paine, is an independent researcher who resides in Nevada and Alaska.

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