Hercules Inlet is a large, narrow, ice-filled inlet which forms a part of the southwestern margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. It is bounded on the west by the south-eastern flank of the

Heritage Range The Heritage Range is a major mountain range, long and wide, situated southward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the southern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range is complex, consisting of scattered ridges and peaks of mod ...

, and on the north by

Skytrain Ice Rise Skytrain Ice Rise () is a large, flattish, peninsula-like ice rise of about 50 miles extent, extending from the vicinity of Meyer Hills in the Heritage Range eastward into the Ronne Ice Shelf of Antarctica. It was mapped by United States Geologi ...

. Hercules Inlet marks the southern end of Zumberge Coast and the northwestern end of

Queen Elizabeth Land Queen Elizabeth Land is a portion of mainland Antarctica named by the government of the United Kingdom and claimed as part of the British Antarctic Territory, which is the largest of the 14 British Overseas Territories. Situated south of Wedd ...

. The inlet was named by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

for the

LC-130 Hercules The Lockheed LC-130 is a ski-equipped United States Air Force variant of the C-130 Hercules used in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ten are currently in service with the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard. Design and development T ...

aircraft used by the U.S. Naval Support Force, Antarctica, as a photographic and load carrying plane. Hercules Inlet is one of the common starting points for long distance expeditions to the South Pole, taking anywhere from 25 to 81 days. The first expedition from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole took place in 1998, led by

Martyn Williams Martyn Elwyn Williams, (born 1 September 1975) is a former Wales and British & Irish Lions international rugby union player. A flanker, he was Wales' most-capped forward with 100 caps until surpassed by Gethin Jenkins on 30 November 2013. He ...

. This 50-day expedition opened up the doorway for South Pole overland journeys, and has become the classic route for most expeditions. The slopes south of the inlet area are covered in crevasse fields, making travel through them treacherous without prior knowledge of their whereabouts. The

Wilson Nunataks Wilson Nunataks () is an irregular string of nunataks about 8 nautical miles (15 km) long, lying between the Douglas Peaks and the head of Hercules Inlet in the Heritage Range, Ellsworth Mountains. Named by the University of Minnesota Ge ...

can be seen from the inlet as well.

References

Inlets of Antarctica Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Bodies of water of Queen Elizabeth Land {{QueenElizabethLand-geo-stub