1930–1931 British Arctic Air Route Expedition (BAARE) Discovery of the Watkins Range

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Augustine Courtauld

Augustine Courtauld was born on August 26, 1904, in Braintree, Essex, England, into the prominent Courtauld industrial and textile family. Educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College, Cambridge, Courtauld developed formidable seamanship as a competitive deep-sea yachtsman and joined James Wordie's 1926 expedition to East Greenland and 1929 expedition to Jan Mayen, mastering Arctic maritime navigation and survival. In 1930, Courtauld joined Gino Watkins' British Arctic Air Route Expedition as surveyor and meteorologist. To obtain vital year-round meteorological data for proposed North Atlantic commercial air routes, the expedition constructed an isolated weather station—Ice Cap Station—perched at 2,620 metres elevation on the crest of the Greenland Inland Ice. When winter reliefs were threatened by savage blizzards, Courtauld volunteered on December 6, 1930, to man the station entirely alone for the winter. Over the ensuing five months, brutal polar blizzards completely buried the small dome tent beneath snow and rime. Courtauld's ventilation pipe froze, his kerosene supplies dwindled, and on March 22, 1931, the entrance tunnel collapsed, entombing him in utter darkness beneath the ice sheet. For six weeks in total silence, rationing food in sub-zero cold, Courtauld maintained his calm resolve until May 5, 1931, when Watkins, Chapman, and Rymill located the buried station's protruding vent pipe and dug him out alive and in high spirits. Courtauld received the Polar Medal with Arctic Clasp in 1932. In 1935, he helped finance and plan the Anglo-Danish Expedition led by Lawrence Wager that conquered Gunnbjørn Fjeld. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II and authored 'Man the Mountain: An Anthology of Mount Exploration'. Courtauld died on March 3, 1959, at age 54, commemorated by Mount Augustine in East Greenland.

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Gino Watkins

Henry George 'Gino' Watkins was born on January 29, 1907, in London, England. Educated at Lancing College and Trinity College, Cambridge, Watkins developed an early passion for mountaineering and polar survival under the mentorship of polar veteran James Wordie. Possessing extraordinary leadership qualities, personal charm, and an instinctive mastery of indigenous Inuit hunting techniques, Watkins organized and led his first Arctic expedition to Edgeøya, Svalbard, in 1927 at just twenty years of age. In 1930, Watkins conceived and directed the ambitious British Arctic Air Route Expedition (BAARE) to East Greenland. Supported by the Royal Geographical Society, the expedition aimed to survey the feasibility of a transatlantic air route linking Britain to Canada via the Arctic ice sheet. Operating from a coastal base near Ammassalik, Watkins utilized two de Havilland Gipsy Moth biplanes, dog-sled teams, and Inuit kayaks. Flying reconnaissance missions deep over King Christian IX Land, Watkins discovered an immense, uncharted mountain range protruding through the inland ice—later officially designated the Watkins Range, containing the highest summits in the entire Arctic. In 1931, Watkins, alongside surveyor Alfred Stephenson, mounted a bold attempt to climb Mount Forel (3,383 m) in the Schweizerland Alps, reaching the high ice dome before being turned back by crevasses. In August 1932, while leading the East Greenland Expedition at Lake Fjord to continue meteorological surveys for Pan American Airways, Watkins went hunting alone in his seal-skin kayak. His empty kayak and clothing were found floating among sea ice; his body was never recovered. Watkins died on August 20, 1932, at age 25, mourned worldwide as one of Britain's most gifted and inspiring polar leaders.

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Lawrence Wager

Lawrence Rickard Wager was born on February 5, 1904, in Batley, Yorkshire, England. An exceptionally gifted student of natural sciences, Wager earned first-class honours in geology from Pembroke College, Cambridge. He quickly established himself as one of Britain's most formidable alpine climbers, honing his rock and ice skills in the Lake District, Wales, and the Alps. In 1930, Wager was appointed chief geologist on Gino Watkins' British Arctic Air Route Expedition to East Greenland. Over fourteen months of rigorous fieldwork, Wager carried out landmark geological surveys of the coastal layered igneous formations, discovering the world-renowned Skaergaard intrusion in Kangerlussuaq Fjord—a geological marvel that remains one of the world's most studied magma chamber sequences. In 1933, Wager was selected for Hugh Ruttledge's fourth British Mount Everest Expedition. On May 30, 1933, Wager and Percy Wyn-Harris made a legendary summit bid on the North Face of Everest, climbing above 8,500 metres without supplementary oxygen. Near the First Step, Wager discovered Andrew Irvine's ice axe from the fateful 1924 expedition. Wager and Wyn-Harris pushed to an altitude of approximately 8,570 metres—matching Edward Norton's 1924 world altitude record—before being turned back by treacherous sloping snow slabs in the Great Couloir. In 1935, Wager returned to Greenland to co-lead the Anglo-Danish Expedition alongside Ebbe Munck. Navigating through sea ice in the sealer 'Quest', the expedition ventured into the unexplored Watkins Range. On August 16, 1935, Wager, Munck, Jack Longland, and Patrick Courtauld achieved the maiden first ascent of Gunnbjørn Fjeld (3,694 m), conquering the roof of the Arctic. Wager was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and served as Professor of Geology at Oxford University until his death on November 20, 1965.