Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - Bayan nasarar da Roald Amundsen ya yi a Kudancin Kudancin a watan Disamba na 1911, Shackleton, wanda ya nemi wannan nasarar da kansa, an tilasta masa ya sake tunani game da burinsa na polar. Ya yi imanin cewa har yanzu akwai "babbar manufa guda ɗaya ta tafiye-tafiye zuwa Antarctic - ƙetare nahiyar Kudancin Kudancin daga teku zuwa teku". Shackleton ya yi amfani da shirin da wani mai bincike na ƙasar Scotland mai suna William Spiers Bruce ya tsara, ya shirya ya kai rundunarsa zuwa kudanci, wato, gaɓar tekun Weddell. Bayan haka, rukuninsa da suka wuce nahiyoyi za su yi tafiya zuwa Kudancin Kudancin, kafin su ci gaba da ƙetare iyakar iyakar kuma su sauka ta wurin Beardmore Glacier (wanda Shackleton ya gano a shekara ta 1909)
) zuwa babban shingen kankara. Yankin karshe zai kai su a ƙetaren Barrier zuwa McMurdo Sound a gabar tekun Ross Sea.