tiabunna's photos with the keyword: trip

Heading back to Mawson station, late at night on the 100th day of our trip and trying to make up lost time, when suddenly we stopped. Our tractor had hit a crevasse, generally referred to as a 'slot'. Many trips had been through this particular area and never before had one been encountered here.

From an old slide and being reposted with a better copy. This is the "Spring Trippers" group photo on Christmas Eve, 50 years ago (1966). We were on a four month mapping trip, at this stage some 200km inland from Mawson station, Antarctica. Merry Christmas, everyone. Here's a song to go with the season.

From an old slide. A few days of blizzards left huge amounts of drift piled against, through and around the tractors and caravan trains. Here is the start of the process of digging out the tractors from the huge amounts of snow that accumulated every time we had a blizzard - typically twice weekly on our return trip.

From an old slide. Blizzards, usually lasting several days, left huge amounts of drift piled against, over and around our tractors and caravan trains. Clearing it typically took at least a day, sometimes two. Here, late in a long day's digging, much of the sledges and linking cables have been cleared of snow.

Apart from weather, we had a relatively smooth run back to Mawson. Here the caravans and sledges are being ferried to Mawson - and, since our departure, the sea ice had disappeared.

From an old slide. About as white as Christmas can get - while we had our celebrations, another blizzard developed and was filling the air outside with whirling snow. Our chef, back in Mawson, had prepared the cake for us prior to departure.

When the blizzard was over, it was necessary to clear the snow from the tractors and sledges. Fortunately, on our way south, we had left our third tractor at a depot not far away, so it was possible to go there with a Snowtrac and retrieve it - checking a safe route and returning very carefully. The first tractor was relatively easy to extract, the "sideways" one proved a problem. First (as above) we tried lifting it sideways with two tractors, using steel cables and bridging timbers: all we achieved was to shake the tractor further down the slot while breaking cables and chains.

From an old slide. Totally "drifted in". A few days of blizzards left huge amounts of drift piled through and around the tractors and caravan trains. Clearing it typically took at least a day, sometimes two. On our return trip, blizzards were frequent and often we had only one day's travelling before being pinned down for several days, then repeating the process.

From an old negative. On the first day of the Spring Trip inland from Mawson, the station's VW followed the tractor trains for several miles. Here it is crossing through reasonably small sastrugi.

From an old slide. This looks like fog - it isn't, it's drifting snow blowing past at about 30 knots, with visibility steadily becoming worse. In full blizzard conditions visibility can drop to five metres or less. This already is "whiteout" though, with light bouncing between the white sky and surface: so shadows disappear, distances become almost impossible to estimate, and you fall over unseen sastrugi (with no shadows there's nothing to define it). Time to head indoors and wait for things to improve.

Having both our tractors stuck in the crevasse late at night, we expected to start releasing them the following day. It was not to be, as we had another blizzard, lasting four days and leaving the tractors half buried in snow drifts. More dangerously, the crevasse also had been covered with soft snow, so we had to use safety ropes and ice picks to determine its location.

From an old slide. Finally our work at the Prince Charles Mountains was done and, after a delay caused by bad weather, we were on our way northwards.

Stitched panorama from old negatives. Looking further south into the Prince Charles Mountains from Mt Lacey, the most southerly point I reached. Here we erected a trig point and took readings of distance with a tellurometer to a field party travelling to other peaks in the area. The distant mountain range is about 30km away, Mt Bechervaise is the large peak on the far left. (I suggest viewing on black)

From an old slide. Recently arrived tractor trains at what became our depot, about 1500 metres high on the Antarctic plateau, looking due south at midnight in the northern Prince Charles Mtns. To see the location of this photo, go to "Location" at right, click on "Antarctica" and change the view to Satellite. Taken with Minolta SR1, Auto Rokkor-PF 1.4/58mm.

From an old negative and best viewed on black. The only previous expedition to this area had described Mt Bechervaise as "impossible". That was something of a challenge to the more expert climbers in our group: here the climbing party prepares to make the first ascent. I was quite happy to watch. :) They took about four hours to reach the summit and another four to return.

From an old slide. On Mt Lacey in the Prince Charles Mountains we erected a trig point and took readings of distance and bearings to a field party travelling to other peaks in the area (the machine is a Tellurometer for measuring distance very accurately - something like half a radar set, one was required at each end of the link). The distant mountain range is about 30km away.

We reached the Prince Charles Mountains late at night, with a snowtrac ahead as a scout vehicle searching for crevasses. These are more prevalent near mountains, the old adage being "if you can see mountains, you're too close". Sure enough, about eight km before reaching the mountains the vehicles began to hit "slots", so that was our limit with the heavy D4s and their trains and became our camp for three weeks. I spent much of my time on the mountain at the right, assisting with the survey.

From an old slide. Apart from other activities, whenever possible a weather balloon went up daily, to give some information on upper air flows in the Prince Charles Mountains area of Antarctica. Tracking was visual, by theodolite. In the background are a pair of Polaris "Sno Traveler" vehicles (and a motorcycle near the D4 on the right - I do not recall that it ever was used on the trip).