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.

Transport

A shortage of air transport, both fixed wing and helicopter appeared to be more of a problem this season than those previous. This effected the project in two ways. The party was put in the field late and pulled out early due to rescheduling of Hercules flights to and from New Zealand. Further delays were experienced because of a lack of serviceable helicopters. We would have liked to spend one or two days longer at the first camp. It was not possible however to reschedule the move although we gave two days' notice.

On moving to the second camp we were put down without any resupply of food, or for that matter any of the items we had requested some days earlier. Although by no means in dire straits it did require the rest of the day and considerable radio communications with Scott Base to remedy the situation. One worrying aspect of the helicopter moves was that the crews had difficulty finding us at the new camps. In both cases the crews seemed to think we were still at the initial campsite.

Communications

We were provided with a Labgear radio, although a Compak had been initially requested. 2773 kHz was used for all communications (which were generally excellent) with Scott Base. On only one occasion was relay through Vanda necessary. The change of evening sked time to 2015 instead of 1815 was a good move as it enabled us to get back to camp in time for the sked on every occasion. There was only one minor problem that involved a loose wire in the battery pack. The pack was replaced on the following resupply.

Weather

Weather conditions were generally fine during the time spent in the field. The main exception being two days of quite heavy snow (18 cm total) with accompanying low visibility (100-200 m) but no wind. One or two other days had winds strong enough to make conditions on exposed ridges unpleasant especially when combined with light snow. Most of the other days were calm and sunny. Meteorological recordings were made at 0800 and 2000 and relayed to Scott Base during the radio skeds. Highest temperature page 26 measured was −3°C and the lowest −17°c. The weather forecasts which we requested on several occasions proved to be of little use, inevitably the weather on the following day was the complete antithesis of that forecast.

Field equipment

Most field equipment was satisfactory. All members of the party complained about the wool-lined leather boots. Although the boots stood up to the conditions, they are far from ideal. We all suffered from blisters and or painful pressure points, especially when they were used with crampons. Surely a lighter boot constructed of modern materials could be found. Sunglasses provided by Antarctic Division for the field assistants were particularly unsuitable. They were so dark it was not possible to readily distinguish between rock, ice or snow. The woollen finger gloves wear through after a few days of handling rocks. Thinner dacron gloves would perhaps be more suitable for geological work.

There still appears to be problems with the food boxes if earlier reports are anything to go by. There is still insufficient "Refresh" provided, there should be at least 10 packets/box. There are too many salty soups and sauces, and less than a third of the 1.5 kg bag of sugar would be adequate. The bulky container of salt is also far more than required. Too many dry biscuits are provided and the dry Army ration biscuits should be replaced with some sort of ordinary sweet biscuits. Much to the helicopter crewman's distaste we found the thin blue plastic garbage bags unsuitable for human waste, they leak even when two are used. A thick heavy duty bag is required.

Itinerary for K043