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Immediate report of Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition 1988-89: VUWAE 33

Preparation for the Field

Preparation for the Field

Preparations for the field went remarkably smoothly with the event personnel arriving at Scott Base on the scheduled date. All event cargo had already arrived, or arrived on the same flight as the event personnel. All the requested field gear was available at Scott Base except for the Pionjar hammer which had already gone into the field with K161. Some time was spent in organising its availability for our event.

The only real problems experienced were the restrictions on weight for our initial helo flight to the Miers valley because of the scheduling of only one flight. Considerable effort was required to weigh every item of equipment and to assign priorities. Because of this weight restriction even the food was reduced to only five days supplies. This would have led to significant problems had page 37 supplies not accumulated in the Miers refuge hut over the past few seasons. In the end these restrictions on getting gear to the Miers delayed the start of the programme by 5 days which because of the earlier than usual flows in the rivers led to problems in installing two of the weirs.

The transport of our bulky items and fuel to Cape Chocolate saved considerably on helo support although problems were experienced in arranging for this gear to be brought up to Lake Miers. In hindsight the cargo train to Cape Chocolate was under-utilised and the bulk of our fuel (kerosene), food boxes, and the camp for the Garwood should have also been shifted to this staging point. The extra weight would have been negligible to the cargo train but was significant for helo support.

The support of all the Scott Base staff, particularly John Alexander, the field storeman, and mechanic, ensured we were ready to depart for the field on the scheduled date.