It's about a filming trip at the back of the Vestfold Hills (Antarctica, Davis)...
although we spent alot of time preparing for a 500km journey..
And had 3 * 660 cc skiddoos all to ourselves
Our skiddoo caravan followed the walkers and a mega bivy was our shelter to stop for a cup of tea
There was a lot of waiting...
And our little caravan didn't go very far!!
camp on a snowy day
same camp on a good day
Some got addicted to extreme wall building
And we spent a lot of time digging!
Could harldy hear myself outside in the wind
And nor could we by the stove inside!
Rare were the occasions to go alfresco dining!
And we made up the crevasses
fuel transport
The excitment of the month : a care package drop off - fresh bread, a lump of meat and the newspapers, yay!
Return to civilization! Almost... some weird individuals reside at the Davis skiway!
The expedition started on Christmas day when we were dropped off by the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis at Davis station and directly flown to the skiway 20 km inland on the Antarctic icecap. Six of us started setting up for the joint departure of 2 partys: a couple of people walking attempting to recreate Mertz and Mawson’s epic 500 km journey back to Commonwealth Bay by testing equipment and food used at the time (1912) and a film crew of four following them by skidoo, including a director, a cameraman, a doctor and a sound recordist. We used 3 skidoos and large plastic sledges to carry our equipment for a 6 weeks venture. Some caches had been pre-placed along the planned route by helicopter, however the skidoos turned out to be limited in their carrying capacity (200kg not 500!) and the intended route was modified to do a return journey. Skidoos, sledges and drivers were also roped together in a glacier travel fashion for the recky part of the trip which slowed the progression. However, our party of four did not need to advance very fast as were were following two Antarctic enthusiasts, who covered about 15 km per day on foot! We moved our little caravan every few days, setting up a base camp where and when needed. We used the Macpac hemisphere tents as sleeping tents and a polar pyramid outer as a kitchen tent.
Our travel took us along an old traverse route up to and then following the 1000m contour mark. At that height, temperatures in summer are generally 10 to 15 degrees below that encountered along the Antarctic coast in the Vestfold Hills, that is about –10 to – 15 C in summer. For a few weeks around the solstice, the sun did not dip below the horizon and solar radiation reflected from the ice could make the days quite comfortable despite the katabatic winds mostly blowing up to 30 knots in the morning. To avoid the wind and film in the best sunlight, we first travelled at night. A good goretex jacket (like the prophet) over a medium weight down jacket provided good protection from the elements until the sun started disappearing under the horizon about mid January. Temperatures then plummeted quite rapidly at the end of the day and we shifted our travelling back to daytime. At two occasions we had to stop and bunker down for several days due to severe blizzard conditions with no visibility and winds up to 70 knots. In those times, a lot of wet (yes, wet!) snow blows around. Anchored with large snow blocks and reinforced guides, our tents coped with the storm but were often heavily buried in spindrift, needing regular digging. At several occasions, the outer got damaged with the weight of the snow or the unfortunate “showel dent” but was minutiously sewn with dental floss by our expedition doctor.
The icecap is an amazing environment. Although it seemed very monotonous at first, like a flat ice desert, we became accustomed to feel and detect any subtle changes in inclination, wind direction and sastrugi height Sastrugi are elongated mounts of snow created by wind erosion. They made travel by vehicle very demanding due to shock and vibration on equipment and bodies. Towards the end of the trip, during our descent back to the coast, skidoos had mechanical problems and we borrowed a large enclosed cabin oversnow vehicle (Hagglund) capable of towing our 3 sledges. This made the travel warmer for the four of us but noisy as the passengers of a Hagglund sit with the running engine!! Both parties safely made if back to the coast and Davis station by mid February and we are currently awaiting to catch the ship home! Overall, I’ll personally chose the option of a light weight ski traverse for my next icecap expedition but this slow motorized traverse was something to try!! Film crews always do have a lot of gear!
