Warden Pass

Warden Pass () is a snow pass at about 1,000 m trending east–west between the northwest side of

Fuchs Dome Fuchs Dome is a large ice-covered dome rising over , between Stratton Glacier and Gordon Glacier in the central part of the Shackleton Range, Antarctica. It was first mapped in 1957 by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Commonwea ...

and Flat Top in the Shackleton Range. The area was surveyed by

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (CTAE) of 1955–1958 was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole. It was the first expedition to reach the South ...

in 1957. Named by the

United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) and ...

(UK-APC) after Michael A. Warden,

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

(BAS) general assistant,

Halley Station Halley Research Station is a research facility in Antarctica on the Brunt Ice Shelf operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). The base was established in 1956 to study the Earth's atmosphere. Measurements from Halley led to the discov ...

, 1970–72, who worked in the area. Mike Warden writes: In 1970, after a month traveling through the Shackleton Mountain range, the two sledge parties arranged to rendez vous back at their airdrop depot on the Slessor Glacier on Christmas Day. But delayed by bad weather, Peter Clarkson, geologist, and Mike "Muff" Warden, doggyman, said that "come hell or high water" we would get back to the depot on New Year's Eve. A promise we almost regretted making. On New Year's Eve, we started sledging at 11.15 hours. The sun was high in the sky so the surfaces were lousy - sticky and soft - making it very heavy work for the two dog teams. Progress was very slow. Luckily the up hills were gentle, the down hills fun. We took a short cut over a pass, now named Warden Pass. At 20.00 hours, we reached the top of the pass and could see the tent and the other team in the distance at the depot. We sledged down a long steep slope onto the Slessor Glacier. We crawled the last section up the glacier on better surfaces. Our two dog teams were exhausted and didn't even have a final burst of energy when they got sight of the depot which we eventually reached at 22.45 hours. In my journal I wrote "Both teams were shagged. Eleven and a half hours of traveling, what a flog. Hell or high water we said, and so it was. An epic finish to 1970. 24.8 miles: dogs treated to 2 bars of Nutrican each for the fourth consecutive night, and they deserved it, bless them." This was the third consecutive season, and the last, that dog teams were used in the Shackleton Mountains. A few years later the last dogs were removed from Antarctica following an international agreement that all non indigenous animals should be removed from the Continent. What is indigenous? Most of our dogs were at least the third generation that had been bred and born on the continent. The removal of dogs from the continent brought an end to an era of truly the most reliable and exhilarating forms of transport, dog sledging. The contribution dogs made to the exploration of the continent has been marked by a statue of a husky placed outside the headquarters of the British Antarctic Survey at Cambridge, UK. Mike Warden, 15 June 2013 Mountain passes of Antarctica Landforms of Coats Land {{CoatsLand-geo-stub