tiabunna's photos with the keyword: crevasse

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.

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.

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.