VUWAE 16B - PART 2

On December 27 a four-man party consisting of Chinn (party leader), Askin, Bamford and Bright were flown by helicopter to Mt. Feather (77°56.1′S; 160°24′E; map elevation 2700 m). The camp was set up on a small rock platform alongside Ohio State geologists, Mayewski and Wilkinson, working on the Cenozoic Till covering the platform. We finished measuring the geological section the next day just as a whiteout closed in. It snowed very heavily during the next two days and apart from half a day's reconnaissance work along the north ridge of Mt. Feather we were confined to our tents. The weather cleared in the early hours of December 31 but cloud closed in again during the morning. One of the two helicopters which had flown out to transfer us to the next locality managed to land after which the cloud closed over. We entertained the helicopter crew for 3 hours until improving conditions enabled them to take off. The next day we again spent in our tents in 15-25 knot winds and thick blowing snow.

The party was transferred to the southern Warren Range (78° 26.9′S; 158°l7′E; map elevation 2000 m) in calmer conditions the following morning (January 2). It was found possible to move the entire party in one helicopter (minus one crew-member). It had been considered that two were necessary to move a four-man party. After setting up the camp work on the section was begun. That night Askin and Chinn walked along to a location on the plateau side of the main Warren dolerite massif. Only a few dolerite samples were collected as we were unable to climb far. The rock was very smooth and the steps much higher than usually encountered on dolerite sills. Bamford and Bright completed the stratigraphic section above the camp the following afternoon. The next day was spent waiting for the helicopter to arrive from Scott Base but cloudy weather in the McMurdo area prevented them leaving. The spectacular red-beds behind the camp were filmed and that night Bamford and Chinn successfully sampled up the lower part of the more climbable south ridge of the dolerite massif. The weather at Warren was good and we were lucky to be camped in a very sheltered hollow. Although we experienced sporadic whirling gusts throughout our stay the winds were continuously fairly high outside the vicinity of the camp.

We were moved on January 5 to Escalade Peak (78°37.7′S; 159°28′E; map elevation 1400 m). Before picking us up the helicopter had brought out a Sno-tric toboggan, fuel and a small Nansen sled and the following day the four of us travelled east on these to the Swartz nunataks where we found a substantial sized block of Arena Sandstone in a predominantly dolerite area. We described this in detail then continued in a circuitous route along the west side of the Worcester Range and back to the camp. During the next two days the stratigraphic section up the south-east ridge of Escalade Peak was measured and a toboggan trip south to Mt. Marvel made. We decided not to drive right up to Mt. Marvel as the approach was over fairly steep blue ice and fog was coming in from the north. The helicopter pick-up was page 19 expected on January 9 but cloud over the Ferrar Glacier area prevented the helicopter from reaching us. Whiteout conditions over the McMurdo area during the next two days delayed the pick-up still further. The weather was excellent at Escalade Peak over the whole period, and we were eventually transferred to Mt. Kempe (78°6′S; 162°44′E; map elevation 2400 m) on the morning of January 12. We described a very interesting basal Beacon section at Mt. Kempe immediately after establishing the camp on a flat snow area beside the moraine on the north-east side of the mountain. (N. B. The area between the moraine and the col separating Kempe and Huggins is extensively crevassed).

The weather remained clear and enabled us to move to Rotunda (78°0.4′S; 161°36′E; map elevation 1500 m) the following morning. The moraine platform at the NE tip of Rotunda proved too steep and rubbly, and the tents were set up on the glacier ice beneath a climbing sill to the east of Rotunda. We spent 3 full working days in this locality filming and measuring in detail the large stratigraphic section up the north-east ridge. The party returned to Scott Base at midday on January 17.