Aims

The objectives of the 1988-89 field program were to study exposures of the Beacon Supergroup near the present day northern and southern boundaries of McMurdo Basin. It was also planned to conduct 1:50,000 scale geological mapping in the northern Convoy Range and at Allan Hills for the NZGS. The program was planned on the basis of a three man sledging party operating in the Darwin Glacier area and the Convoy Range and a four man party at Allan Hills.

Preparations for the Field

Gillespie and Woolfe spent one week on base prior to the arrival of Henare, this time was largely spent repacking food boxes and readying sledges for glacier travel. Considerable time was spent removing food items from cardboard packing, returning unwanted food items to the store, collecting deep field essentials such as flour and incorporating extras and freshies into the standard boxes. We found the toboggan G7 was loosing gear box oil and two members of the party had to return early from the shake down trip on the Aurora Glacier to pick up more oil. This problem was eventually fixed by the placement of a small baffle beneath the breather in the filler cap, the enthusiasm and determination of the mechanics to ensure the problem was fixed in time for our scheduled put-in was outstanding.

Replacing the standard snow craft survival course with a shake down trip of reasonable length was very worth while, although for first time visitors the second day of the standard course is worth doing in addition to the shake down trip.

FIELD TRANSPORT

Three tamworth sledges and two motor toboggans were used extensively in the Darwin Glacier area. Both toboggans performed well, the following minor problems arose;

The thrown track on G7 was undoubtably the most serious incident and resulted from excessive sideways force being applied while attempting to turn the sledge train around in a crevassed sastrugi field. Wind shields were useless when travelling with a strong following wind, trap fumes on calm days and are inconvenient on the second toboggan when using a personnel line from lead toboggan to last sledge. Wind shields were not used after part way through out first camp move, they are difficult to carry when unattached to the toboggan and we recommend that future deep field parties are not issued with them. The Tamworths suffered minor damage including a broken slat on T4 resulting from the collapse of a drum cradle, broken handle bar fixings on T5 and T6 and minor runner delamination on T4 and T5.

The sledges performed exceptionally well, spreading the load over three sledges meant that no sledge was over loaded and this combined with slow travel ensured minimum strain on the sledges. This meant that we took longer on some routes than previous parties but the time was more than made up by not having to carry out major sledge repairs. When travelling all units of the train were linked, by 17 mm rope and a separate 10 mm rope was used as a personnel line. For all but the steepest slopes instep crampons were worn in preference to twelve point crampons, to reduce crampon damage to both sledges and toboggans.

The provision of a sledging guide would be useful to first time sledging parties, included in this should be different train configurations and methods for moving both laden and unladen aircraft pallets.

The total distance travelled was about 800 km, for which we used 310 litres of Mogas. At times fuel consumption was much higher than this figure indicates, consumptions of up to 1.5 km per litre were recorded when towing heavy loads up snow covered slopes.

SLEDGING ROUTES

Travel on the Darwin Glacier was generally good, although crevasses occur on a roll which runs across the glacier about 4 km east of Richardson Hill. Extensive areas of heavily crevassed hummocky blue ice occur off the northern ends of Haskell and Coloseum Ridges and travel through these areas is difficult. The crevasse field off Colosseum Ridge extends northwards for about 4 km.

A route on to the edge of the plateau exists close in to the western side of Haskell Ridge, further west however sastrugi and crevasse fields are encountered.

Entry into the Hatherton Glacier is easy only where the ice fall is divided into a number of platforms, this point is clearly shown on the 1:250,000 map and once found only a few crevasses need be crossed. Travel up this route is not recommended if towing sledges.

The Hatherton Glacier provides easy down hill travel, it is mostly blue ice and generally free from crevasses except for the first 5 km below the ice fall, which is partly snow covered and lightly crevassed. Care must be taken not to get on the wrong side of the medial moraines because crossing them is all but impossible in many places. Several steep rolls occur close to Mt Ash, travel down these is hazardous and travel up would be very difficult.

Extensive crevasses occur north and northwest of Junction Spur and smaller crevasses persist for about 9 km down glacier. The best crossing point between the Hatherton and Touchdown Glaciers is at 158°00′ East because the area to the east is also crevassed.

Travel between Roadend and Mulgrew Nunataks is good with easy gradients, a crevasse field extends off the south-western tip of Mulgrew Nunatak but can be avoided by passing as close to the Nunatak as possible (avoiding the wind scoop).

Access to the Tentacle Ridge-Mt Hughes area is best gained from the valley north-eastward of Tentacle Ridge. Travel into the embayment is on blue ice, there are few crevasses but the route is moderately steep. Access to the south-western side of Tentacle Ridge appears difficult and camp sites are exposed to strong catabatic winds.

Although no sledging was conducted in the Convoy Range, the Fry Glacier area has only limited crevassing and blue ice and could easily be sledged. Sledging routes are summarised in figure 3.

Figure 3 Sledging routes and campsites used in the Darwin Mountains.

LC-130 SUPPORT

The put-in site on the Darwin Glacier, just north of Richardson Hill proved to be unsuitable due to moderate crevassing. There appear to be no suitable landing sites in this area.

The only ideal landing site found was the pull out site which is close to that used by the Darwin Project in 1978-79. It is about 5 km west of the southern tip of Roadend Nunatak (79° 51′S 158° 10′E), a 3000 m strip was marked out by two rows of flags 500 m apart, the strip was orientated along the length of the glacier and provided good approach and escape routes.

Airdrops of mail and food were made into the Darwin Glacier and six 12 gallon drums containing mogas and DFA were dropped into the Fry Glacier. All the airdrops were successful and no breakages occurred, the Darwin drops made use of aircraft returning from regular pole flights and as such were economical on aircraft hours.

The Fry Glacier drop (fuel) and landing site recce used considerably more LC-130 hour than was expected due to four missions which had to be abandoned because of weather and mechanical problems.

HELICOPTER OPERATIONS

Only 14.5 of our allocated 22 helo hours were used, due mainly to the decision not to use motor toboggans and sledges in the Convoy Range-Allan Hills area.

SUMMARY OF AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS

9 Nov	LC-130 Recce fight (with K221 plus base staff), Bad weather in Darwin Glacier, mission abandoned after 4.5 hrs.
10 Nov	LC-130 recce flight (with K221), successful recce of Darwin Glacier, Bad weather at Allan Hills mission abandoned.
16 Nov	LC-130 Put-in Darwin Glacier (with K221, total put-in cargo 15,500 lbs).
9 Dec	LC-130 Airdrop into Hatherton Glacier, returning pole flight.
10 Dec	LC-130 Recce and fuel drop at Allan Hills abandoned due to bad weather, recce of crevassed Richardson Hill landing site.
12 Dec	LC-130 Recce and fuel drop at Allan hills abandoned due to mechanical fault.
14 Dec	LC-130 Fuel drop completed at Allan Hills, recce reveals area unsuitable for landing.
22 Dec	LC-130 Pull-out attempted, crevasse detected on first drag, pull-out abandoned, recce Roadend Nunatak, abandoned due to haze.
24 Dec	LC-130 Airdrop Darwin Glacier, recce Roadend Nunatak abandoned due to poor definition.
29 Dec	LC-130 Recce Roadend Nunatak, abandoned due to haze causing refraction haio around aircraft.
5 Jan	LC-130 Pull-out from Roadend Nunatak.
7 Jan	Helo Put-in (2 pax) Elkhorn Ridge.page 49
18 Jan	Helo Bring in Barrett, move party to Allan Hills
24 Jan	Helo Pull-out (3 pax) return to Scott Base.

EVENT DIARY

28 Oct	Gillespie and Woolfe to Scott Base (after 2 days delay in CHCH).
29 Oct	Event brief, preparation of field gear.
30 Oct	Preparation of sledges and toboggans, test run to Turtle Rk.
31 Oct	Repacking food boxes.
1 Nov	Modification of sledge ropes, towing and personnel lines.
2 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Henare in CHCH (weather).
3 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Henare in CHCH (weather).
4 Nov	Henare to Scott Base, party to ice fall for snow and ice travel in evening.
5 Nov	Shake down trip to Aurora Glacier with K221 and leader of survival School.
6 Nov	G7 dropping gear box oil, Gillespie and Woolfe return Scott Base to pick up oil, then return to Aurora Glacier. Party returns Scott Base.
7 Nov	Henare on day 2 of Survival Course.
8 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Recce flight cancelled due to weather.
9 Nov	Recce flight abandoned, bad weather in Darwin Glacier and at Allan Hills. Used 4.30 hrs LC-130 support.
10 Nov	G7 and G8 on test run to Windless Bight, G7 still dropping gear box oil; recce flight, Darwin Glacier completed, Allan Hills abandoned due to bad weather.
11 Nov	G7 test run, still dropping gear box oil.
12 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Put cancelled due to weather.
13 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Scott Base invitation golf classic.
14 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Put in cancelled due to weather.
15 Nov	Aircraft Delay: Put in cancelled due to weather.
16 Nov	Put in to Darwin Glacier near Richardson Hill. Crevasse opened on first drag, but aircraft too heavy to take off, K047 and K221 put in. Moved camp to Colosseum Ridge 79° 48′S 156° 25′E.
17 Nov	Strong westerlies, recce Colosseum Ridge.
18 Nov	Geology northern end of Colosseum Ridge.page 50
19 Nov	Geology Colosseum ridge to Trail Ridge.
20 Nov	Cross Smith Glacier on foot, section measuring Haskel Ridge,
21 Nov	Camp Move: Return landing site to pick up fuel, move to plateau side of Haskel Ridge. Travel difficult, crevasses, hummocky blue ice and sastrugi. Threw track off G7. Arrive camp 0330 hrs (79° 42′S 155° 48′E).
22 Nov	Rest day.
23 Nov	Recce route on to Hatherton Neve and geology of Nunataks westward from camp. Section measuring Haskell Ridge.
24 Nov	Section measuring on un-named nunatak westward of camp.
25 Nov	Bad Weather prevents trip to Turnstyle Ridge. Night move to Hatherton Glacier 79° 56′S 155° 48′E.
26 Nov	Rest day.
27 Nov	Geology upper Hatherton Glacier.
28 Nov	Local geology, sort day due to 30 kt westerlies.
29 Nov	Gillespie and Woolfe to section J3, Henare local geology.
30 Nov	Local Geology.
1 Dec	Gillespie and Woolfe cross Hatherton Glacier on foot for section measuring, Henare local geology.
2 Dec	Henare and Woolfe local geology, Gillespie repairs and maintenance at camp.
3 Dec	Local geology.
4 Dec	Local geology.
4 Dec	Moved camp to lower Hatherton Glacier (79° 52′S 157° 14′E).
5 Dec	Local geology.
6 Dec	Local geology.
7 Dec	Travelled up Hatherton Glacier to un-named ridge 4 km above camp.
8 Dec	Travelled to Junction Spur, geology. Marked out site for air drop.
9 Dec	Air drop arrived mid-afternoon, change back to working days.
10 Dec	Moved camp to 6 km SE of Mt Hughes (48 km).
11 Dec	Tentacle Ridge, geology.
12 Dec	Tentacle Ridge, geology.page 51
13 Dec	Spot Height 1960, north of camp, geology. Discovered abundant fish remains near summit.
14 Dec	Packed camp set off for Island Arena.
15 Dec	Arrived at put-in site early morning, then moved camp to Island Arena (79° 50′S 156° 25′E) distance travelled 58 km.
16 Dec	Partial white out, probed landing site for crevasses but probing near useless with crevasse bridges being largely undetectable.
17 Dec	Partial white out, low cloud and snow.
18 Dec	Partial white out, low cloud and snow.
19 Dec	Aircraft Delay, low cloud and snow.
20 Dec	Aircraft Delay, gale to storm force westerlies.
21 Dec	Aircraft Delay, strong to gale force southerlies packed up camp.
22 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Pull-out abandoned, plane breaks through crevasse on first drag.
23 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Visited Trail Ridge, geology.
24 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Received airdrop in early morning, low cloud and snow by evening.
25 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Low cloud and snow.
26 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Low cloud and snow, left late for Roadend Nunatak, steering by compass at first.
27 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Arrived Roadend Nunatak (79° 49′S 158° 05′E), low cloud and fog.
28 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Low cloud and fog, local geology.
29 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Recce flight early morning unsuccessful because of mid-level cloud. Moved camp to Mulgrew Nunatak.
30 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Local geology.
31 Dec	Aircraft Delay: Returned to Roadend Nunatak.
1 Jan	Aircraft Delay: Heavy snow.
2 Jan	Aircraft Delay: Local Geology, recreation day.
3 Jan	Aircraft Delay: Marking out new strip, low cloud etc.
4 Jan	Aircraft Delay: Weather clearing slowly, packed up camp and moved to new landing site.
5 Jan	Party returned to Scott Base, Henare returns NZ.
6 Jan	Preparation of field gear, packing rocks.page 52
7 Jan	Gillespie and Woolfe Helo to Elkhorn Ridge (76°40′S 161°06′E)
8 Jan	Local geology.
9 Jan	Marginal weather, local geology.
10 Jan	Cross Towle Glacier on foot, measured section on Mt Naab, returned to camp by late evening.
11 Jan	Rest day.
12 Jan	Local geology. Barrett to Scott Base.
13 Jan	Local geology. Barrett to Survival School.
14 Jan	Crossed Northwind Glacier on foot, geology at Flagship Mountain.
15 Jan	Helo Delay: Snow and low cloud.
16 Jan	Helo Delay:
17 Jan	Helo delay:
18 Jan	Barrett joins party, party moves to Allan Hills.
19 Jan	Local geology.
20 Jan	Local geology.
21 Jan	Local geology.
22 Jan	Local geology.
23 Jan	Local geology.
24 Jan	Party returns Scott Base.
25 Jan	Packing rocks, cleaning and return of field gear.
26 Jan	Packing rocks, return of field gear.
27 Jan	Barrett and Woolfe to Christchurch.

Field Equipment

Detailed notes on field equipment have been submitted separately (G. Gillespie, End of Season Report) and are held by Antarctic Division. In general the quality and quantity of field equipment was excellent and it was good to see that many of the suggestions made last year have been implemented. The following suggestions and observations are made: The weights stated in the field manual for toboggans and sledges are up to 20% too light in some cases. The purple Olympus Tent was difficult to see when pitched on rock and the sewn in ground sheet rather unsubstantial. Both these problems could be fixed by the inclusion of a standard yellow ground sheet, this could be used as added protection to the floor of the tent when pitched on rock and as a high visibility object in the event of a SAR or similar operation.

Frozen food is difficult to keep frozen in the standard red food boxes while camped on rock or hard ice where they can not be buried. The provision of white boxes (with red stripe if required) should be considered.

Much time was spent repacking food boxes, maybe field parties should be given the option of pack your own or prepacked boxes. For long stay or deep field parties total repacking is often necessary to reduce bulk and to remove unwanted items while including others and little time is saved by having prepacked boxes in such cases.

The provision of a steering compass, such as a marine hand held navigation compass that could be used for both steering and position fixing would be useful. A handle bar mount for Tamworth sledges should also be provided. The new yogurt was great.

Radio Communications

Two Tait hand helds were used to maintain communications between the field party on days when the party split up to work on separate outcrops. These radios worked well and were invaluable when steering the sledge train by compass.

HF communications varied and at times it was not possible to raise any station but generally communications were good. The awkward nature of the box on the Codan meant that the less powerful Compak 8 was used in preference while sledging (see G. Gillespie End of Season report for suggested improvements).

Garbage Disposal

All burnable material (excluding plastics) were incinerated in the field and the non-burnable material was returned to Scott Base. In the Darwin Mountains human wastes were disposed of in crevasses, human wastes from the Convoy Range and Allan Hills were returned to Scott Base.

Fuel Dump

Five 12 gallon drums of two stroke mix (2% oil, 1% isopropyl alcohol) and one 12 gallon drum of DFA were air dropped into the Fry Glacier and later lifted to Cape Roberts. The drums are in as new condition, unopened and clearly labelled, they will not be required at this location by the event in 1989-90 and should be made available to events operating in the Cape Roberts area.