Scartaris

Scartaris is the southern peak of Mount Sneffels whose shadow identifies the correct entrance to the volcano’s central shaft. Its importance is practical and symbolic: a distant summit becomes a sundial, and the expedition’s passage into the Interior of the Earth depends on reading its shadow at the appointed time.

Position and Identification

From the summit of Mount Sneffels, Professor Hardwigg points out its two peaks, north and south, and asks Hans to name the one beneath them. Hans answers with a single word: “Scartaris.” The name gives the expedition a precise landmark within the volcanic landscape, distinguishing the peak whose relation to the crater matters from the surrounding heights.

The significance of the name emerges against the expedition’s setting. Reykjavik lies on a flat, marshy plain between two hills; a field of lava descends in terraces toward the sea, while Faxa Bay faces the enormous glacier of Sneffels. The mountain thus dominates the travelers’ approach to Iceland, but Scartaris becomes more than a striking part of that skyline: its position is the key to choosing a route underground.

The Shadow as an Instruction

Saknussemm’s cryptograph specifies that the correct opening is the one touched by Scartaris’s shadow in the last days of June. Three apertures yawn beneath the expedition, and only one can be the shaft through which the earlier traveler descended. The instruction therefore makes the peak’s shadow a test: the explorers cannot choose safely by appearance alone, but must wait for the sun to mark the right mouth.

Professor Hardwigg explains the mechanism through the image of an immense sundial. Scartaris acts as its pointed stylus; on the designated day, its shadow points toward the chasm leading into the earth. The clue joins written knowledge to direct observation. The cryptograph gives a condition, the mountain supplies the indicator, and the sun’s movement determines whether the sign can be seen.

Waiting in the Crater

The timing makes the peak’s guidance precarious. On June 25, cloud covers the sky, and no shadow appears at the bottom of the crater. If the clouds persist for six more days, the party will have to postpone its attempt for a year. The delay is especially grim for Henry Lawson, who already wants no part of the enterprise; he understands that another year would mean one fewer person in the party.

The weather changes on Sunday the 28th. Although the sky is still overcast, a change of wind clears the way for sunlight to reach the crater floor. The shadows of the rocks and uneven ground grow distinct, and Scartaris’s shadow appears among them. Professor Hardwigg follows its slow movement with mounting excitement: a clue that had been useless beneath cloud becomes legible through the changing light.

The Mark and the Descent

At exactly twelve o’clock, when the sun reaches its highest point for the day, Scartaris’s shadow falls on the edge of the central pit. Professor Hardwigg recognizes the position as the answer to Saknussemm’s instruction and declares that they have found the way forward. The shadow does not itself reveal what lies below; it selects the opening through which the expedition can begin its descent.

Scartaris’s role is therefore both geographical and procedural. It converts the crater’s three possible routes into one chosen passage, and transforms an old written direction into a present event that the explorers can witness and act upon. Its shadow is not merely an image of the mountain but the instrument by which the expedition resolves uncertainty and crosses from Iceland’s visible landscape into the underground journey.