Which Antarctic glacier did Ernest Shackleton discover and climb during the 1908 Nimrod Expedition?

The Antarctic glacier Ernest Shackleton discovered and climbed during the 1908 Nimrod Expedition was the Beardmore Glacier.

The glacier was encountered on December 3, 1908, during Shackleton’s southern journey with Frank Wild, Eric Marshall, and Jameson Adams. It provided a route through the Transantarctic Mountains from the Ross Ice Shelf toward the high polar plateau. Shackleton named it after Sir William Beardmore, a major financial supporter of the expedition.

The party became the first people to reach and travel across the South Polar Plateau. They eventually reached 88°23′S—about 97.5 nautical miles from the South Pole—before turning back because their supplies could not support the return journey. The glacier later became the route used by Robert Falcon Scott’s South Pole party in 1911–1912.

A common mix-up is with Axel Heiberg Glacier, which Roald Amundsen’s party used to reach the South Pole, or Shackleton Glacier, a different Antarctic feature named in Shackleton’s honor.