Australia’s expeditioner’s at Mawson research station in East Antarctica have just endured an epic seven day blizzard, with wind gusts of up to 244 kilometres per hour and zero visibility.

The 19 expeditioners wintering at Mawson bunkered down as the storm raged around them, with strict safety guidelines managing outside travel in high winds.

Australia’s most famous Antarctic explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson, knew all too well the intense and fierce power of an Antarctic storm.

“A plunge into the writhing storm-whirl stamps upon the senses an indelible and awful impression seldom equalled in the whole gamut of natural experience. The world a void: grisly, fierce and appalling. We stumble and struggle through the Stygian gloom; the merciless blast — an incubus of vengeance — stabs, buffets and freezes; the stinging drift blinds and chokes.”

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