The Rockefeller Mountains () are a group of low-lying, scattered
granite peaks and ridges, almost entirely snow-covered, standing 30 miles (48 km) south-southwest of the
Alexandra Mountains :''See also Queen Alexandra Range''
Alexandra Mountains () is a group of low, separated mountains in the north portion of Edward VII Peninsula, just southwest of Sulzberger Bay in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Discovered in January–February 1 ...
on the
Edward VII Peninsula of
Antarctica.
Discovered by the
Byrd Antarctic Expedition on January 27, 1929, they were named by Byrd for
John D. Rockefeller Jr., a patron of the expedition. The geologist
Laurence M. Gould
Laurence McKinley Gould (August 22, 1896 – June 21, 1995) was an American geologist, educator, and polar explorer. He made expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic, and was chief scientist on Richard Evelyn Byrd's first Antarctic expedit ...
and his team flew out to this mountain range in their plane; but after landing, a
snow storm
A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not ne ...
blew it half a mile away onto the ice, destroying it. This left them stranded for 11 days with limited food until the Byrd team in the ''Little America'' settlement could be reached and could send another plane to pick them up. These events are captured in the documentary ''
With Byrd at the South Pole''.
See also
*
Fokker Rocks, rock outcrops just south of
Mount Schlossbach in the Rockefeller Mountains
*
Melbert Rocks
The Melbert Rocks are rock outcrops close north-west of Mount Paterson in the Rockefeller Mountains of Edward VII Peninsula, Antarctica. They were discovered by the Byrd Antarctic Expedition, 1928–30, and were named by the Advisory Committee o ...
, rock outcrops close north-west of Mount Paterson in the Rockefeller Mountains
References
External links
*
Mountain ranges of the Ross Dependency
King Edward VII Land
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