Queen Maud Mountains

The Queen Maud Mountains, named for the early twentieth century Queen of Norway, tower on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf on the coast of the Antarctic land mass. The windswept rocky north faces rise suddenly over a landscape of rolling white hills and glaciers.

A prominent feature in the region is the Beardmore Glacier, over 110 miles long and in places over 40 miles wide. This is one of the largest known glaciers in the world. This enormous stream of ice flows through the mountains, joining the South Polar plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf. It is fed by great tributary glaciers and tumbled ice falls, and its many wide crevasses make traversing it difficult.