Preparation for the field

Preparations for the field went remarkably smoothly with the event personnel arriving at Scott Base on the scheduled date. We were made to feel most welcome on arrival at the ice runway even though the Base was in a state of chaos because of the filming of "Its in the bag". All event cargo had already arrived and was waiting in the cargo areas. All the requested field gear was available at Scott Base except for the Pionjar hammer which was in the Wright Valley. This, however, was returned before our scheduled departure date and in time for some much needed servicing. Once serviced it worked well for the week that we needed to use it.

Survival training went without a hitch and the two new event personnel got a lot out of the course; including having a lot of fun. The fact that Jack McConchie only had to attend for a day as part of the refresher course allowed him to prepare the rest of the gear for departure to the Miers. This allowed the event to get into the field a day early and because of problems with helo support early in the season this paid major dividends. The instructors were well organised and co-ordinated as well as being friendly and helpful.

The support of all the Scott Base staff, particularly the Operations Manager (Don Hammond), the Field Storeman (Doug Henderson), and Storeman (John Lee) greatly eased the process of preparing to depart Scott Base. The previous experience of the event leader also allowed us to get into the field ahead of schedule. At the time we were the only event to achieve this feat!

David Winchester's arrival during the Christmas - New Year break, while fine in concept, meant that he suffered considerable delays because of the demands of the "festive" season. While frustrating this did not jeopardise the programme in any way.