Field equipment:

We were impressed with the quality of the clothing, the only exception being the woolen finger gloves. Due to collecting and packing rocks, page 52 these gloves would only last a few days before holes appeared. The primuses functioned perfectly with no sign of CO poisoning even at our high altitude (2350m) camp at Shapeless Mountain.

During one particularly bad spell of weather the "North Face" dome tent periodically collapsed in the gale-force winds as the flexible metal poles bent inwards. When the wind slackened it would "pop" out again. During this time the polar tent was very stable in the wind.

Minor damage to the dome tent occurred on December 7 and on December 19 and although the tent was easily repaired in the field it was not as well suited to the high winds as was the polar tent.

The only loss of equipment was one bush shirt, two pairs of socks and a geological hammer. These were sent in a cargon from Wellington to Scott Base but could not be found on arrival at Scott Base although most of the equipment sent in the same cargon did arrive safely.