Pengguna:Stephanus Victor/bak pasir

Musim dingin tahun 1908

Bangunan siap-rakit berukuran 33 x 19 kaki (10 x 5,8 m) yang menjadi pondok tempat bernaung rombongan ekspedisi akhirnya rampung dipasang dan siap untuk dihuni pada akhir bulan Februari. Pondok tersebut disekat-sekat menjadi bilik-bilik hunian untuk dua orang, dan dilengkapi area dapur, kamar gelap, gudang, serta ruang laboratorium. Kandang kuda-kuda poni dibangun pada sisi pondok yang paling terlindungi, sementara kandang-kandang anjing ditempatkan di dekat serambi. Shackleton's inclusive leadership style, in contrast to that of Scott, meant no demarcation between upper and lower decks—all lived, worked and ate together. Morale was high; seperti yang dicatat Brocklehurst, Shackleton "memiliki kemampuan untuk membuat setiap anggota ekspedisi merasa kehadiran mereka benar-benar diperlukan di dalam ekspedisi tersebut".

In the ensuing months of winter darkness Joyce and Wild printed around 30 copies of the expedition's book, Aurora Australis, which were sewn and bound using packaging materials. The most important winter's work, however, was preparing for the following season's major journeys, which were to include attempts on both the South Pole and the South Magnetic Pole. By making his base in McMurdo Sound, Shackleton had been able to reinstate the Magnetic Pole as an expedition objective. Shackleton himself would be leading the South Pole journey, which had suffered a serious setback during the winter when four of the remaining ponies died, mainly from eating volcanic sand for its salt content.