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Immediate report of Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition 1989-90: VUWAE 34

THE HISTORY OF THE ROSS SEA REGION DURING BEACON TIMES (K047)

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THE HISTORY OF THE ROSS SEA REGION DURING BEACON TIMES (K047)

Aims

The aims of the 1989-90 Beacon Studies programme were to examine exposures of mainly Victoria Group rocks in the Skelton Névé to Robinson Peak area. The programme had four main objectives:
i)Facies, paleocurrent and thickness studies to constrain the regional tectonic development of the sedimentary basin.
ii)Sampling for a carbon/sulphur geochemical profile of the Beacon in South Victoria Land.
iii)Fades and paleocurrent analysis of Pivot Coal Measures and Weller Coal Measures for a comparative study.
iv)Facies and paleocurrent analysis of Lashly A for a reinterpretation of the paleoenvironment.

Planning

Pre-season planning progressed smoothly and problems were identified. With the exception of an unfortunate incident caused we suspect by a personality clash and a degree of scientific protectionism on behalf of a third party, preparations for field went extremely well. The problem with our planned visit to Escalade Peak and the Boomerang Range was not raised until after our arrival at Scott Base. If it really existed, the problem should have been raised at Tekapo.

Cargo

Event Cargo was shipped southwards with cargo consigned by K042. No separate cargo items were sent. North bound cargo consisting of rocks and sundry personal gear has yet to arrive in Wellington.

Preparations for the Field

The party had completed survival training, a shake down trip and was ready to leave five days after arriving on base.

We experienced some weather related delays prior to leaving base (see event Diary).

Field Transport

Motor Toboggans

A last minute decision led to the new Alpine Toboggans being moth balled and in their place we were issued two Grizzlys, G7 and G8. Initial reservations about taking these old machines on a long traverse proved to be unwarranted as both machines performed well. For the most part loads were relatively light but towards the end of the trip each machine was pulling about 2000 lbs and finding it hard work.

Each machine covered 950 km, towing an average of about 1400 lbs, total fuel consumption was 790 l, giving an average fuel consumption of 2.7 km/l.

Icing was a serious problem on the Lower Staircase, warm conditions and deep soft snow caused ice keels to form between the tracks preventing steering. In addition the tracks became frozen completely if stopped for more than a few seconds.

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Once stopped the only way to get going again was to roll the machine and chip away the keel and the ice from around the tracks.

The magnitude of the problem is exemplified by the fact that it took us over 2 hours and 12 km of driving to turn two toboggans around and align them with two sledges after we stopped to reconfigure the train. Turning circles were upwards of 300 m in diameter and stopping resulted in instant freezing. The rule seems to be if you encounter these conditions don't stop!

Contaminated fuel was a major problem on the leg between Mt Metschel and Portal Mountain, extreme care must be taken not to send rusty drums into the field. Many hours were lost because of this and it resulted in us being unable to reach our planned destination before bad weather closed in.

Helicopter Operations

Helicopter resupplies were made at Mt Metschel, Mt Crean and Mt Fleming, the party was pulled out by helo from just south of Mt Bastion.

Without exception resupplies arrived late, either because of weather or mechanical problems, however this had no impact on the smooth running of the event.

The pull out from Mt Bastion was seriously affected by weather and resulted in a helicopter becoming trapped overnight at our camp. Four Tamworth sledges were underslung to Vanda and proved very difficult to fly, strapping them to the skids seems the best option if they must be flown externally. Moderate damage was done to the sledges either in flight or during landing. Additional damage may have resulted from the sledges being blown around on the pad at Vanda, such loads should be placed some distance from the pad to prevent tumbling caused by rotor wash.

Hovercraft Operations

The hovercraft managed to deploy a depot near Fishtail Point in weather conditions which were too bad for sledge travel suggesting that it offers a viable means of Ice Shelf transportation even in marginal conditions.

However, the depot was not placed where we wanted it nor where they told us it was! The problem arose when the hovercraft encountered the rift field off Fishtail Point and decided they could go no further. Had the crew or one of the two Scott Base staff onboard been properly briefed prior to departure the depot could have been placed a further 70 km from base without any problems at all. The route up the Skelton Glacier and indeed the rifts which caused the problem were clearly marked on a map left at Scott Base. This map should have been made available to the hovercraft but it wasn't.

Even when the depot had been deployed on the Ice Shelf, 3.5 miles off Fishtail Point and north of the mouth of the Skelton we were told that it was at Fishtail Point. Only after clearing the rifts and struggling across a sastrugi field did we discover that there was no sign of the depot at Fishtail Point. Bad weather prevented us from back tracking out onto the Shelf for some days. A number of days travel may have been saved if we had been given the correct position of the depot in the first place.

In retrospect we recommend that in future where depots are to be deployed by hovercraft without event personnel, that a briefing be organised with the crew prior to the Events departure, in the same way that this is done for deep field LC-130 operations.

Event Diary

Nov 2 Arnot, Woolfe and Zwartz to Christchurch.
Nov 3 Aircraft delaypage 60
Nov 4 Arnot, Teeling, Woolfe and Zwartz to Scott Base. Late afternoon assemble sledge trail on ice foot in front of hanger.
Nov 5 Southerlies to 40 kts, blowing snow. Repacked food boxes, sorted field gear, pumped fuel. Event Brief, advised we were not allowed to visit Escalade Peak or the Boomerang Range, phoned Barrett.
Nov 6 Southerlies gusting to 60 kts, condition 1. Ready for shake down trip. Clearance from Christchurch for trip to proceed.
Nov 7 Southerlies to 40 kts, blowing snow, minor sledge repairs, party makes itself useful around base.
Nov 8 Snow at times. Arnot and Zwartz to survival school. Teeling and Woolfe load sledges for shake down trip and finish rebuilding drum cradles.
Nov 9 Partly cloudy first thing. Party plus Henderson (Field Store) left mid-morning in fog and poor definition for the Aurora Glacier. Followed flagged route to infrasonic array in Windless Bight. Returned to Scott Base in deteriorating weather, early evening.
Nov 10 Snow and poor viability prevented any movements today, party visits Mac weather.
Nov 11 40 kt southerlies and blowing snow. Party helps the "Its in The Bag" crew set up stage. Woolfe does 2000-0800 hrs radio watch.
Nov 12 Clearing weather. Party departs Scott Base at 1400 hrs. Great send off. Travelled under compass at times, covered 72 km. Camp 1, 78°08′S 168°11′E.
Nov 13 Ice fog clearing. After a late start covered 70 km before making camp off Minna Bluff. Frontal system moving in from the south. Camp 2, 78°38′S 167°35′E.
Nov 14 Blowing snow and patches of ice fog prevented travel all day.
Nov 15 Blowing snow, visibility less than 5 m at times.
Nov 16 Blowing snow, wind easing by afternoon. Spent 4 hours digging out the train, blowing snow again by evening. Hovercraft 1 leaves McMurdo for Fishtail Point with resupply.
Nov 17 Strong southerlies and blowing snow. Hovercraft puts in depot at Fishtail Point and returns McMurdo.
Nov 18 Drifting snow and poor definition. Sledge train drifts up as fast as we can dig it out no progress again today.
Nov 19 White out. Departed at 1700 hrs in light winds, poor definition and viability. Travelled 30 km under compass. Camp 3, 78°46′S 168°20′E (D.R. position).
Nov 20 Overcast poor definition, no landfalls. Travelled 70 km under compass. Camp 4, 79°15′S 166°13′E.
Nov 21 Patches of ice fog, Bad weather over mountain front. Weather Clearing by evening. 2330 hrs, obtained fix on Teal Island.
Nov 22 Clear and calm. Departed for Fishtail Point at 0230 hrs. Arrived Fishtail Point at 1000 hrs, no sign of either the depot or the flags which the hovercraft deployed. Travelled 90 km, Camp 5. 78°57′S 162°32′E.
Nov 23 Strong winds and drifting snow, wind easing by late afternoon, heavy snow by evening.
Nov 24 Snow and poor definition again prevented us from searching for our depot, running out of many food items.
Nov 25 Snow, low cloud and poor definition, no progress.page 61
Nov 26 Snow, low cloud and poor definition, clearing slowly. Dug out sledges and camp in case the weather breaks.
Nov 27 Left camp at 0155 hrs in drifting snow and poor definition, weather clearing, recovered depot, from the Ice Shelf north of the rifts running off Fishtail Point. Departed for Clinker Bluff at 1030 hrs. Whited out after only 9 km of travel. Camp 6, 78°52′S 162°16′E (D.R. position).
Nov 28 Weather clearing. Started packing camp at 0700 hrs but white out returned before we could make any progress. Remained half packed, awaiting clearance in the weather. No H.F. comms.
Nov 29 Weather clearing from the south. Departed camp at 0400 hrs. Easy travel weather still improving. Machines ice up and totally freeze at Twin Rocks. Tracks refreeze in seconds ice keels form continuously, takes 2 1/2 hours to turn the train around in deep soft snow. Pitched camp on The Landing after travelling 70 Km. Takes 3 hrs to chip ice off toboggans and sledges. Camp 7, 79°20′S 161°35′E.
Nov 30 Fine and calm. Travelled 80 km, set up camp near a rock rib on the north east corner of Mt Metschel (Camp 8).
Dec 1 Light snow by evening. Local geology, Mt Metschel. No comms with Scott Base (am), CW comms only (pm). Resupply did not arrive.
Dec 2 Light snow, poor viability and definition. No resupply.
Dec 3 Strong westerlies and blowing snow.
Dec 4 Strong westerlies and blowing snow easing slowly. Helo arrives with resupply late morning. Party leaves Mt Metschel 2330 hrs, with bad weather approaching from the south.
Dec 5 Dirty fuel received in yesterdays resupply causes numerous break downs. Party over run by snow and poor definition. Arrived base of Portal Mountain 0700 hrs. Camp 9A. Heavy snow and fresh westerlies by evening. Arnot, Woolfe and Zwartz depart for local geology late evening.
Dec 6 Arnot, Woolfe and Zwartz return at 0130 hrs still snowing. Weather clearing by afternoon. Teeling and Zwartz depart with G7, G8 and one sledge at 1830 hrs to establish a camp near the summit of Portal Mountain, Camp 9B. Arnot and Woolfe depart 1840 hrs for exposures on the northeast ridge. Bad snow conditions hamper climb. Camp 9B is established, Teeling and Zwartz do some local geology.
Dec 7 Arnot and Woolfe return to Camp 9A at 0130 hrs having been unable to reach the outcrop due to bad snow conditions. Weather deteriorates during the morning. Teeling and Zwartz set off to help move Woolfe and Arnot up to camp 9B but are forced back by fog and poor definition. Both parties do some local geology.
Dec 8 Fine and calm, light snow by late evening. Teeling and Zwartz move Woolfe and Arnot to outcrop above dolerite sill on north east ridge and then move all remaining equipment up to Camp 9B. Arnot and Woolfe measure section on north east ridge.
Dec 9 Weather closing in Arnot and Woolfe complete section and meet up with Teeling and Zwartz above Camp 9B, Arnot and Teeling descend to camp. Woolfe and Zwartz collect paleocurrent data from Lashly A, returning to camp in thick fog at 0300 hrs. Weather clearing late afternoon. Party moves camp to Mt Crean, Camp 10.
Dec 10 Fine and Calm. Arnot and Teeling set out for the south ridge and the Weller Coal Measures. Woolfe and Zwartz traverse Mt Crean via the north east ridge to meet up with Arnot and Teeling on the south ridge.
Dec 11 Both parties return to camp around 0845 hrs. Helo resupply at 1530 hrs. Rest day.page 62
Dec 12 Woolfe and Zwartz leave for east ridge at 0500 hrs. Arnot and Teeling pack up and leave at 0730 hrs for Pivot Peak, establishing Camp 10B. Poor viability prevents work on Pivot peak, snowing by afternoon at Mt Crean.
Dec 13 Skeded at 0200 hrs, blowing snow and poor visability. Weather remains bad at pivot Peak all day, but clears slightly at Mt crean, Woolfe and Zwartz do some local geology.
Dec 14 Skeded at 0200 hrs, weather not too bad. Arnot and Teeling complete a good day in the central valley of Pivot Peak. Woolfe and Zwartz start section on south east face of Mt Crean but are forced back by deteriorating weather.
Dec 15 Skeded at 0200 hrs, marginal weather all round. Woolfe and Zwartz do some local geology in afternoon, weather remains bad at Pivot Peak all day.
Dec 16 Fine and calm, both parties complete a successful day's geology.
Dec 17 Fine, fresh Katabatic. Arnot and Teeling depart Camp 10B at 0730 hrs for Mt Crean, arriving 1130 hrs. arnot and Woolfe visit diamictite exposure on south east face, Teeling and Zwartz purge fuel drums and prepare depot for retro. Entire party leaves for Mt Fleming at 1800 hrs.
Dec 18 Camp 11 is established at Mt Fleming by 0100 hrs. Total distance covered from Pivot Peak 95 km. Fine and calm, party leaves for recce of the north east ridge at 1630 hrs, Arnot and Woolfe continue out along north east ridge while Teeling and Zwartz return to camp and then drive to Horseshoe Mountain for recce.
Dec 19 Arnot and Woolfe return to camp at 0100 hrs, Teeling and Zwartz return 0230 hrs. Arnot and Woolfe leave for northeast ridge at 1700 hrs, Teeling and Zwartz remain at camp to meet in bound helo. Helo forced to make emergency landing near Lake Fryxell and does not arrive. Teeling and Zwartz depart for Horseshoe Mountain at 2355 hrs, Arnot and Woolfe return at 0000 hrs.
Dec 20 Horseshoe Mountain proves to be very exposed to the katabatic, Teeling and Zwartz return to camp very cold at 0950 hrs. Arnot and Woolfe leave on foot for the northeast ridge at 1210 hrs. Resupply arrives mid-afternoon. Arnot and Woolfe return to camp at 2045 hrs.
Dec 21 Fresh katabatic, bad weather over the Plateau. Teeling and Zwartz leave on toboggans for Horseshoe Mountain at 1150 hrs, Arnot and Woolfe leave on foot at 1215 hrs for the ridge to the south of camp and the valley below. Arnot and Woolfe return to camp at 2045 hrs, in gale force westerlies and blowing snow. No sign of Teeling and Zwartz. Believing Teeling and Zwartz would have returned to camp early in view of the weather, Arnot and Woolfe prepare to recce the route to Horseshoe Mountain. At 2130 hrs a request is made to Scott Base to place the SAR team on Standby. Teeling and Zwartz return to camp, safe and well at 2205 hrs, after working in fine weather all day!
Dec 22 Marginal weather prevented work today.
Dec 23 Fresh katabatic easing. Maintenance and local geology. Christmas helo arrived md-afternoon.
Dec 24 Snow and poor visability. Arnot and Teeling leave for north east ridge but return finding all the exposures snow covered. Woolfe and Zwartz complete a successful day (in the sun) at Horseshoe Mountain.
Dec 25 Katabatic to 40 kts, easing but fog over the Plateau prevented us from moving to Mt Bastion.
Dec 26 Strong katabatic all day, unable to move.
Dec 27 Fine and calm, party moves to Mt Bastion establishing Camp 12. Low cloud by evening.page 63
Dec 28 Partly cloudy, light winds. Party sets off for the platforms on the east side of Mt Bastion. The route down consisted of mixed frozen scree, soft snow and blue ice, party returns via the east face and north ridge in threatening weather.
Dec 29 Strong katabatic with blowing snow, unable to travel.
Dec 30 Low cloud and poor definition.
Dec 31 Cloud thickening, snow later. Flagged route to Robinson Peak but forced to return to camp ht heavy snow and viability below 200 m at times.
Jan 1 Heavy snow and low viability.
Jan 2 Low cloud, poor visibility and periods of snow.
Jan 3 Low cloud and snow.
Jan 4 Fine light winds. Party travels to Robinson Peak, Arnot and Teeling descend to the Weller Coal Measures, Woolfe and Zwartz examine exposures of Lashly. Party returns to Camp 12 in fresh easterlies.
Jan 5 Arnot, Teeling and Zwartz leave for Mt Dearborn at 1315 hrs, but return at 1500 hrs in moderate snow and poor visability.
Jan 6 Low cloud and snow. Constructed helo pad for our pull out.
Jan 7 Heavy snow and poor visability. Prepared helo loads for our pull out.
Jan 8 Patchy low cloud and snow showers, visability less than 200 m at times. Woolfe and Zwartz recover flags from route to Robinson Peak. Pull out abandoned.
Jan 9 Fine and calm, Arnot and Zwartz return to Scott Base on first shuttle. Next shuttle takes four sledges to Vanda and 1000 lbs of cargo to Marble Point. Weather closes in. Next Shuttle lands but is clagged in. Helo and Crew spend night on Mt Bastion. Arnot and Zwartz pack rocks back on base.
Jan 10 Low cloud and fog, helo returns Teeling and Woolfe to Scott Base via Vanda. Arnot, Teeling, Woolfe and Zwartz return to Christchurch. Two grizzlies remain at Mt Bastion.

Sledging Routes and Camp Sites

Sledging routes and camp sites are summarised in figures 6-9 and are detailed below.

The route from Scott Base to the mouth of the Skelton Glacier is relatively simple the main difficulty being route finding, the mouth of the Skelton is very difficult to see when approaching from the north east or east. Prominent land marks are Cape Teall, Teall Island and the mouth of the Mulock Glacier.

An extensive set of wide (<8 m), northwest-southeast trending crevasses (rifts) occurs approximately 25 km southeast of White Straight and is centred about 78°20′S 167°30′E.

A rift field extends for approximately 5 km in a southerly direction from Fishtail Point and isolated rifts occur up to 10 km from the point. Parties intending to travel up the Skelton should not attempt to head up the Skelton until Clinker Bluff is open on the true left wall of the Skelton.

Rifts and extensive crevasses occur around the southern end and eastern side of Teall Island these extend out at least 7 km from the southeastern corner of the Island.

Travel up the Skelton was easy, due mainly to a thick snow covering which smoothed out any pre-existing sastrugi. Crevasses occur in isolated fields along both sides of the glacier.

Towards Clinker Bluff large flow-parallel rolls occur, although mostly covered with snow patches of blue ice suggest than under normal snow conditions these could be difficult to cross page 64 and parties travelling this route towards the Lower Staircase should exercise care to make sure they are in the correct "lane"! Isolated crevasses were observed in this area.

From the Lower Staircase to above the Upper Staircase we generally followed the route taken by the 1958-59 Victoria Land Traverse, avoiding those areas where they encountered crevasses. This route is largely a matter of going up those slopes that are not too steep and avoiding the obvious crevasse fields. The rolling topography and abundant crevasse fields makes travel difficult in all but the best lighting conditions.

Travel across the Skelton Névé to Mt Metschel provided no special problems, with rolling ground and good snow conditions. Isolated large crevasses occur off the south face of Portal Mountain, in an area which extends about 2 km out from the face.

A number of crevasse fields occur in the tower Lashly Glacier, both the one extending east from spot height 2320 m and the one extending west from the corner of Mt Feather are easily located and avoidable. A field in mid-stream is harder to see and on the ground can be confused with the one leading off Mt Fleming.

Extensive areas of blue ice occur in the upper Lashly Glacier. Travel very close in on the eastern side of the small unnamed nunatak mid-stream was easy, care should be taken to pick up the crest of a roll which extends for some distance down stream of the nunatak. North of the nunatak the route on to the Plateau is on snow patches over blue ice, with less snow cover this route could be difficult, care must be taken to avoid extensive crevasses to the north and south, small crevasses occur in the blue ice but are easily seen. The route down towards depot Nunatak appeared to be almost entirety blue ice.

Once on the Plateau, travel to Horseshoe Mountain is straight forward, and a prominent ice roll plateauward provides a useful landmark in good light. Patches of blue ice occur south and southwest of Horseshoe Mountain and it is necessary to swing slightly west to avoid these.

There are no problems approaching Mt Fleming from this side.

A roll extends for at least 20 km west from Mistake Peak, with heavy sledges is was necessary to swing westward to avoid this roll. Although time consuming and requiring extra travel this wide route from Mt Fleming to Mt Bastion also avoided an area of blue ice, rolls and crevasses which forms a poorly defined area of confused ground north and west of Shapeless Mountain.

From the plateau Mt Bastion is surprisingly inconspicuous. The large flat topped peak first seen on rounding the rolls is Robinson Peak and the prominent pointed peak, Skew Peak.

North of Mt Bastion travel to Robinson Peak is easy. A crevasse field extends for at least 400 m east of the small unnamed nunatak between Mt Robinson and Mt Dearborn. Access to the Mackay Glacier look possible via this route. The Glacier between Robinson Peak and the Willett Range is very broken.

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Figure 6 Sledging routes and camp sites used by K047 during the 1989-90 season.

Figure 6 Sledging routes and camp sites used by K047 during the 1989-90 season.

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Figure 7 Map of the lower Skelton Glacier showing sledging routes and camp sites.

Figure 7 Map of the lower Skelton Glacier showing sledging routes and camp sites.

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Figure 8 Map of the northern Skelton Névé area showing camp sites and slegding routes.

Figure 8 Map of the northern Skelton Névé area showing camp sites and slegding routes.

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Figure 9 Detail front Lashly Glacier to Robinson Peak, showing sledging routes and camp sites.

Figure 9 Detail front Lashly Glacier to Robinson Peak, showing sledging routes and camp sites.

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Weather

Blowing snow, low cloud, poor definition and falling snow resulted in the loss of over 30 days. The consistently bad weather experienced makes it difficult to suggest any areas which with unusual weather characteristics except that Minna Bluff was realty unpleasant. Talks with other people who have worked in the Minna Bluff area confirm that this place is often very windy. We advise parties travelling over land not to camp within 20 km of Minna Bluff.

Loss and Damage to Equipment

Relatively little damage occurred during the traverse and only two items were lost, these were a frameless kite and a ski pole to which it had been attached. Both items were blown away while the party was preparing to move camp.

The foot plate on T5 gave way while travelling on the Ice Shelf, and the right hand, handle bar upright on T6 was split on the tower Skelton Glacier, temporary repairs lasted for the duration of the trip. Two cow catcher lashings were broken but were not replaced in the field.

A primus box was partially destroyed during attempts to reconfigure the train in freak snow conditions and severe icing on the Lower Stair Case. We can report that primus boxes are unsuitable as "axle stands" for Grizzly toboggans!

Moderate damage was sustained by the sledges while being flown to Vanda, although the extent of the damage was not known prior to our departure for Christchurch it was clear that at least one handle bar had been badly damaged.

Held Equipment

The general standard of field equipment was very high. However, there are a number of points that we would raise:

Solar Panels

There is need for tie down points on these as they are difficult to anchor in even moderate wind.

Steering Compass

It is very difficult to steer a sledge train by standing on the sledge with a hand-held compass, especially in poor definition when unexpected bumps can cause the compass bearer to fall off!

Parties sledging on the Ice Shelf or on the Plateau should be provided with a more suitable steering compass. A small, gimbaled, liquid filled card compass of the type used on small boats would be ideal. This could be attached to the handle bars leaving the breakmans hands free.

Sleeping Mats

The new "thick snow foam" type mats are excellent. However they are easily damaged by ropes and the like, especially when they are lashed to sledges. Their reduced bulk is a great asset.

Radio Box

The boxes supplied with the large Codan radios are useless! They make it very difficult to operate the radio inside the tent and impossible to use while lashed to a sledge.

A suggested new design was submitted last year.

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Flags

Pale green and pale blue flags are very difficult to see and their use should be discontinued. A line of pale green flags spaced every third of a mile was laid by the Hovercraft from McMurdo to Fishtail Point. Even though we crossed this line at least once and recovered a depot from the end of it we did not see a single flag!

Fuel Drums

Care must be taken not to use dirty, rusty or water filled drums for fuel. Two drums (B8929, B8930) sent to us at Mt Metschel proved to be rusty, contaminated with water and full of flaking paint. This led to us breaking down numerous times between Mt Metschel and Portal Mountain. The delay as well as being frustrating was potentially dangerous, forcing us to make otherwise unnecessary repairs in cold windy conditions, it also resulted in us being over run by bad weather. Such drums should be dumped.

Fuel Hose

The clear plastic fuel hose used in the grizzly toboggans is unworkable at very low temperatures. The Black rubber hosing is much softer even when cold.

Hose Clips

Hose clips taken as spares for the grizzly fuel lines should stainless steel and not soft alloy.

Colour Codes for Drums

There was some confusion at one stage as to whether I.P.A. had been added to some of our fuel (the same fuel that caused us problems as outlined above). We suggest that Fuel containing I.P.A. should be colour coded. A stripe on the cap would be ideal.

Dee Rings on Polar Tent

Some of the Dee Rings on the skirts of the Polar Tents were too small for the hollow tube ice pegs. We recommend that they be replaced with larger ones.

Primuses

Field parties are issued with cleaned heads as spares, these were often found to contain small holes or other defects making them unsafe. It is a shame that Ant. Div. goes to so much trouble emphasising the dangers of carbon monoxide at its training course and then causes the problem itself by issuing second hand burner heads. Returned defective heads should be thrown away regardless of cost. We spent much of the trip with one primus inoperative because all the spares were useless.

Radio Communications

The comms team at Scott Base provided excellent support throughout the season. Special mention must also go to the Vanda team who tolerated our 2 am skeds.

On several occasions early in the season we were given weather information for the wrong area. This usually arose only when a stand-in operator was being used. They simply gave us the All Area Forecast for Ross Island and told us that it was for our area.

When comms were bad as they were from time to time we managed to communicate with Scott Base by CW, high-lighting that if the current radios are replaced that a CW capability should be retained.

Extreme care should be given to the use of True and Grid directions, especially when they are passed out by Scott Base. This applies to both Weather information and Navigational page 71 messages. We ran into this problem to the extent that we spent some days looking for flags in the wrong direction!

This gives rise to two points:
1)All directions be they related to weather or navigational instructions passed by Scott Base should be suffixed as their meaning.
2)The field manual should contain a map showing the grid used by the US.

The Tait hand helds worked well and we were able to Talk to Scott Base on CH 3 from Mt Crean and on CH 5 from Mt Fleming and Mt Bastion.

See comments on solar panels and radio boxes above

Event Status on Leaving Antarctica

Amot and Zwartz had 36 hrs on Base prior to their return to New Zealand, Teeling and Woolfe had less than 10 hrs. This rapid departure meant that a lot of field gear could not be returned through the usual channels.

On leaving Antarctica our Event equipment was distributed as follows:

Personal climbing gear, camping gear including primus, kitchen and most food boxes were returned to the field store.

General sledging equipment, crevasse rescue gear, fuel drums and other loose cargo (total 1000 lbs) was left at Marble Point.

All scientific samples were packed ready for shipment to New Zealand and were with the storeman.

Four Tamworth sledges, excluding their tanks but including drum cradles were at Vanda.

Two grizzly toboggans G7 and G8, were on the Polar Plateau 1 km south of Mt Bastion.