Preparations for the Field

Gillespie and Woolfe spent one week on base prior to the arrival of Henare, this time was largely spent repacking food boxes and readying sledges for glacier travel. Considerable time was spent removing food items from cardboard packing, returning unwanted food items to the store, collecting deep field essentials such as flour and incorporating extras and freshies into the standard boxes. We found the toboggan G7 was loosing gear box oil and two members of the party had to return early from the shake down trip on the Aurora Glacier to pick up more oil. This problem was eventually fixed by the placement of a small baffle beneath the breather in the filler cap, the enthusiasm and determination of the mechanics to ensure the problem was fixed in time for our scheduled put-in was outstanding.

Replacing the standard snow craft survival course with a shake down trip of reasonable length was very worth while, although for first time visitors the second day of the standard course is worth doing in addition to the shake down trip.