From a NY Time by Jon Gertner:

More than a million years ago, snow fell on Greenland in the summer. Temperatures were low enough that it stuck, and the ice pack accumulated over the millenniums, eventually stacking higher than 10,000 feet and covering over 700,000 square miles. This frozen desert supported no life. Temperatures regularly ran dozens of degrees below zero, especially during the many months the sun declined to appear. As one 18th-century visitor recorded, the ice sheet was a frigid, deadly place that had “no use to mankind.”

Of course, if there’s a place so miserable that most humans avoid it, there will be a hardy minority spurred by the challenge. These courageous, often exhibitionist explorers, questing after knowledge as much as fame, are the subject of Jon Gertner’s fascinating and encyclopedic book, “The Ice at the End of the World.” 

To read more click on following link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/books/review/the-ice-at-the-end-of-the-world-jon-gertner.html