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Report on the Sixth and Seventh Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition 1962-63: VUWAE 6 & 7

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Several factors arising from this expedition are recommended for consideration for future expeditions. These are:-
1.The expedition should comprise 4 or 6 men rather than 5. For safety reasons it is necessary to mostly operate in pairs and in a 5 man expedition one party has to operate as 3 men, which is very cumbersome both in the amount of equipment needed when `fly-camping', which is virtually the same as that needed for four, and in the overlapping of efforts during day trips. The amount of country covered this season was largely due to being able to operate as three 2-man parties.
2.The use of Mead tents. These were found to be superior in many respects to those used before.
3.The use of double sleeping bags. These greatly add to general comfort when working in the colder areas.
4.A solid, preferably steel, case to lessen the high breakage rate of sunglasses.
5.Expert fitting of crampons. Seven out of twelve crampons supplied new to VUWAE 6 broke due to poor fitting and shaping by a reputable South Island alpine sports centre. This could have been easily remedied had the supplier bothered to give a few instructions on fitting them. This is the only complaint regarding gear supplied but we feel that it is a very important one as apart from inconvenience, lives could be at stake if a crampon broke on an icy slope.