It’s probably the most iconic voyage in polar history: the small boat journey that Ernest Shackleton and five of his men made in the James Caird to South Georgia in 1916, following the loss of his ship Endurance. But their fight for survival, and to rescue the crew left behind on Elephant Island didn’t end there. Once at South Georgia, they had to cross its unmapped mountains to raise the alarm. Today, expedition cruise ship passengers can recreate the final part of their epic hike on the Shackleton Walk, to the old whaling station at Stromness Harbour.
Here’s how to follow in Shackleton’s footsteps.
The Shackleton Walk is a hike of around 5.5 km (3.4 miles), which takes between 3–4 hours to complete. It starts in Fortuna Bay and climbs over a 300 m (990 feet) mountain pass before descending to Stromness. For those with a reasonable level of fitness, it’s a great way to stretch your legs and see a completely different side of South Georgia. If you’re really serious about connecting with your inner Shackleton, there’s normally one departure a year that crosses all of South Georgia, but be warned – you need previous ice mountaineering experience to, and to get in quick, as places usually fill up about 18 months in advance.
Not every trip to South Georgia includes the opportunity to do the Shackleton Walk. As with all expedition cruises, itineraries can never be guaranteed in advance, and because this is an end-to-end hike, it demands perfect weather in but two landing sites to allow the ship to relocate to pick up passengers at the end.
The hike starts at Worsley Beach in Fortuna Bay, some distance from the king penguin colony visited on regular landings. The beach takes its name from Frank Worsley, who piloted the James Caird to South Georgia. You immediately climb through tussac grass, taking extra care to avoid lurking fur seals – one reason why the route is always carefully scouted by guides before you land.
The route generally follows a steep gully, and guides will mark the route so that you don’t run the risk of tramping delicate mosses, or disturbing the giant petrels and burrowing diving who often nest in the area.
Once above the tussac, the terrain turns into a gently rising scree slope. The route takes hikers towards Crean Lake, which is named after Tom Crean, who was the third member of Shackleton’s party on the original hike.
Crean Lake is a beautiful landmark, and it’s often frozen at the start of the visitor season in November. Although it’s apparently unmissable, when Shackleton and his men were here in April 1916, they were so exhausted that they didn’t register it until Crean put his foot through its frozen surface.
You’ll skirt the north shore of the lake before climbing a gravel slope towards a pair of small tarns – small lakes that are often obscured by snow. Pausing to rest here, you’ve reached the highest point of the hike.
As you begin to descend, it’s very important to stick to the route marked out by your guides. Shackleton enthusiasts still debate the exact route that the party took in 1916, but the one followed today avoids the steep and dangerous terrain that they possibly encountered without the benefit of today’s maps.
As you descend down the scree, you reach a notch between two rocky knolls, where you can finally enjoy the views down to Stromness Harbour, with the rusty red roofs of the old whaling station buildings, and your expedition ship looking like a bath toy in the distant bay. You might even shake hands as Shackleton, Worsley and Crean did here when they knew their odyssey was almost over.
From here, it’s a long and curving descent down the scree towards the bay. This is the part of the walk where you’ll be glad you took up the offer of a pair of hiking poles at the start of the walk, as the scree slopes can potentially be a little slippy – but the guides will help you navigate the safest and smoothest path.
At this point, the keenest Shackleton fans will be looking out for the waterfall that the three men famously had to descend by rope. In fact, you won’t see this until you’ve reached the valley floor. Approaching it from above is too steep and dangerous for today’s hikers – it’s a sign of just how desperate the men were by the end of the hike that they thought such a treacherous route was their best option. Once you’ve descended however, it’s a great tradition to have your photo taken in front of the waterfall.
From here, you’ll likely see zodiacs on the beach waiting to take you back to the ship. The last stretch is a flat walk alongside a wide gravel plane that’s braided with streams – taking care this time not just to avoid trampling on the slow-growing moss, but also the small gentoo penguin colony that’s resident here.
The end point of the hike is next to the giant ship’s propellers that lie rusting on the beach. They’re the closest you’re allowed to the actual station – the risks of asbestos and flying debris picked up by the wind means that it’s forbidden to approach closer than 200 metres (650 feet) to the buildings themselves. It’s a rule that the fur seals on the beach choose to ignore.
But when you do reach the beach, turn your head right to pick out the neat white building at the far end of the station. This is the old manager’s villa, where Shackleton, Worsley and Crean knocked on the door in ragged clothes after their ordeal, and now conserved for future generations by the South Georgia Heritage Trust. They crossed the mountains here in one epic 36-hour hike. You’ve followed their path for just a few short hours, but as you head back to the ship in a zodiac almost the same size as the James Caird that brought them to South Georgia, the chance to recreate at least a small part of their journey makes the scale of their achievement even more extraordinary.
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