Xavier Mertz

Who was Xavier Mertz?

Xavier Mertz was a Swiss explorer, mountaineer and skier, from Basel. He took part in the Far Eastern Party, a 1912–13 component of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, which claimed his life. The Mertz Glacier is named after him.

The son of a textile machinery manufacturer, Mertz studied patent law at the University of Bern, and science at the University of Lausanne, specialising in glacier and mountain formations. While a student, Mertz became active as a skier, competing in national competitions, and as a mountaineer, climbing many of the highest peaks in the Alps. In early 1911, Mertz was hired by geologist and explorer Douglas Mawson for his Australasian Antarctic Expedition. He was initially employed as a ski instructor, but in Antarctica Mertz instead joined Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis in the care of the expedition's Greenland Huskies.

In the summer of 1912–13, Mertz and Ninnis were chosen by Mawson to accompany him on the Far Eastern Party, using the dogs to push rapidly from the expedition's base in Adélie Land towards Victoria Land. After Ninnis and a sledge carrying most of the food disappeared down a crevasse 311 miles from the hut, Mertz and Mawson headed back west, gradually using the dogs to supplement their remaining food stocks. About 100 miles from safety, Mertz died, leaving Mawson to carry on alone. The cause of Mertz's death has never been firmly established; the commonly accepted theory is hypervitaminosis A from consuming the livers of the Huskies. Counter-theories suggest he may have died from cold exposure, a change in diet, or psychological stresses.