N.Z. Party Less Than 200 Miles From Pole

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28472, 30 December 1957, Page 9

N.Z. Party Less Than 200 Miles From Pole

SCOTT BASE, December 29. Now less than 200 miles from the South Pole, the New Zealand Antarctic expedition’s tractor train has reached the head of the Beardmore glacier and is now travelling on the route taken by Captain Scott 45 years ago. If the New Zealand party maintains its present progress it will reach the Pole in five days.

i Last night’s run—44.2 miles—[brought the party to latitude 87 | degrees two minutes south and 'longitude 140 degrees east.

The terrain continues to rise gradually and the party is now at 10,400 feet. As they go on, they will lose a little height again since the immediate polar region lies in a vast shallow basin. Sir Edmund Hillary reported a “superb night” for the last run. It was, he said, “warm and windless with the temperature minus 15 degrees.” For the first half of the run the surface was very soft and the work for vehicles and men was laborious. “We barely moved, and then the surface improved?’ he said. If the movement of the two Commonwealth parties continues as at present, Dr. Vivian Fuchs’s party will reach the Pole in about 15 days and the New Zealand party in five. The New Zealanders will camp and wait if they are there first, Sir Edmund Hillary said this morning.

If an American aircraft is available, some of the New Zealand party may fly back to Scott Base but this has not yet been finally decided. In any event, Sir Edmund Hillary will stay at the Pole to meet Dr. Fuchs. The first task after arrival will be the checking of the tractors in case the British party wishes to take them on.

From the other side of the Pole Dr. Fuchs radioed to Scott Base last night that the party’s last run was 15 miles. The going was heavy in soft snow and medium sastrugi, he said.

Like the New Zealand party, the British fire travelling at night. They are “on the road” in normal running for almost 12 hours from 9 o’clock in the evening. But they rarely adhere to this schedule when they are trying to make up time.

Dr. Fuchs told Scott Base that two of the weasels were giving some trouble and this caused a large delay at the start of the last run. The party is hoping to travel 50 miles in the next march to maintain the average daily mileage. The dog teams are 85 miles ahead of the - British tractors.