Narrative

After two days delay Palmer and White arrived at Scott Base at 1930 on December 29. On December 30 Palmer and White commenced snowcraft and survival training primarily under the tuition of Dawkings, returning on December 31. Woolfe was involved in Scott Base duties. Field gear was checked, sorted and moved to the helipad the following day. Due to a lack of serviceable helicopters on January 2 the planned move was postponed. Palmer and White visited McMurdo and Scott's Hut in the morning and all members of the party were engaged in duties around Scott Base during the afternoon.

On January 3 the helicopter arrived and we were transported to camp 1 near Lanyon Pk, arriving at 1530, after aerial photography of the Ferrar Glacier and refuelling at Gneiss Point. Later in the afternoon Palmer and White enthusiastically inspected outcrops SE of the camp. The next day the party traversed ridges NW of the camp, below Lanyon Pk. On January 5 in strong winds and blowing snow, ridges to the S were ampped and sampled. The following day the ridge SE of camp was examined and the party returned to camp down a ridge to the E. On January 7 a long traverse was undertaken northward to the main ridge overlooking the Miller Glacier. After rounding the end of the ridge Palmer and Dawkings returned directly to camp whilst White and Woolfe carried on round to the SW, linking up to the area examined three days previously. On January 4 the party crossed over the saddle SW of camp and traversed the valley side NE of Victoria Upper Glacier. Palmer and White returned over the saddle S of Lanyon Pk and mapped the ridge down to camp. Woolfe and Dawkings returned via Lanyon Pk. January 9 saw the party climbing Mt Swinford and traversing the NE ridge, returning by various routes around the E side of Mt Swinford.

On January 10 with a hasty departure brought about by the early arrival of the helicopter we moved to camp 2, 2 km NE of Schist Pk. Unfortunately the helicopter was not carrying our resupply items, the most important of which was food. We had only a few odd items of food left, our two original food boxes, along with rock samples and rubbish had been left at camp 1 for retro to Scott Base. After spending most of the day on the radio the problem was finally sorted out and our resupply arrived late in the afternoon. On the following day the party climbed the ridge immediately W of the camp and headed N mapping granite to the summit of Mt Harker. The next day we headed S on the same ridge to the summit of Schist Pk. On January 13 Dawkings returned to camp 1 to retrieve reading glasses left during our hasty departure. The rest of the party crossed over to the Willis Glacier and mapped the ridges around its head, rendezvousing with Dawkings in the afternoon. Palmer, who at this stage was suffering a painful pressure point on his right foot returned directly to camp with Dawkings. White and Woolfe continued NE along the ridge and returned to camp around the N face of Mt Harker. Strong winds on the ridges combined with light snow and exhaustion of the party necessitated January 14 being a tent day. On January 15 ridges to the SE were examined with Palmer and Dawkings returning down the ridge directly S of camp, White and Woolfe continued round toward Schist Pk. January 16 involved a long tramp toward ridges in the vicinity of Mt Evans with the following day being confined to the tents.

January 18 saw the arrival of the helicopter for the move to camp 3. After some problems jamming all our gear in, and at the insistence of the crew all our retro as well. This included food boxes, several bags of rock samples, rubbish and to the crewman's consternation a leaking bag of human waste. We landed at McWhinnie Pk page 25 to check out granite we had observed from a distance some days earlier. The new camp was located some 2 km N of Purgatory Pk. After setting up camp the weather closed in, with heavy snow and low visibility, two days were spent in the tents. With the return of fine weather we climbed the hill immediately S of the camp and descended to the plateau area overlooking the Victoria Lower Glacier, returning to camp over Purgatory Pk. With time running short, on January 22 we split into two parties. White and Dawkings headed for the plateau area and returned up the ridge between Purgatory Pk and the Packard Glacier. Palmer and Woolfe examined ridges W of the camp. The following day the Schultz Glacier was crossed and the W ridge of Pond Pk was followed to the summit. The E ridge was then descended to the granite contact. Palmer and White carried out a relatively detailed examination of the area SW of the camp on January 24.

On January 25 the party departed by helicopter for Scott Base, with a detour to Granite Harbour where some aerial photography of granite outcrops on the southern shore was undertaken. The morning of January 26 was occupied with sorting, cleaning and packing gear and the entire party departed for Christchurch at 2200. Upon arrival early the following morning, the party was debriefed. Palmer and White proceeded to Wellington, Woolfe to Nelson.