Prologue, June 1933
Reports appear in the worlds press of an expedition being planned to the Antarctic by the renowned British explorer James Starkweather and the Geologist Professor William Moore. Their stated aim is not to visit the pole itself, but to explore the icecap, particularly the Miskatonic Mountains, discovered by Professor Charles Lake on the ill-fated Miskatonic University expedition of 1930-31.One by one, the investigators applied for places on the expedition. As leaders in their fields, Professor Caine, Professor Malcolm and Doctor Shuttlebolt were readily welcomed to the team.
The guides Ivanoff and Sorrell were requested to attend an interview in New York, although the interview itself was so perfunctory as to be pointless and seemed to be conducted purely to check that they existed. As the expedition was not to leave until September, the investigators spent the next two months at leisure, preparing themselves for the trials ahead and buying some equipment appropriate to their specialities. Notable exceptions to this were Ivanoff, who went on a two month vodka bender and Sorrell, who did some basic research into the earlier expedition