’Copters Drop Men On Polar Alps

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30364, 13 February 1964, Page 15

’Copters Drop Men On Polar Alps

McMURDO STATION, February 10.

Using turbo-prop helicopters to ascend lofty peaks and speed over rugged terrain, a highly-mechanised Antarctic field party has completed the equivalent of three summers of research in two months.

. University of Minnesota geologists, assisted by a United States Army helicopter detachment, have completed a reconnaissance of the 250-mile long and 90-mile wide Ellsworth mountains, the highest in Antarctica. They flew at altitudes as great as 16,500 feet andlanded on summits as high as' 12,000 feet.. They were the first .to depend almost entirely on high-altitude helicopters for. Antarctic geology. Ski-equipped United States Navy planes placed the group at the base camp, periodically resupplied it, and evacuated it. For. transportation near the base camp, the Scientists drove motor-powered toboggans.

The University of Minnesota project was part of the United -States Antarctic Research Programme which is financed and co-ordinated by the National Science Foundation. ah independent agency of the United States Government.

The geologists were: the leader, Mr R. H. Rutford, the deputy-leader, Mr T. Bastien and Messrs J. Evans, B. Gross, D. M. Hall and B. Spoerli, MiHall, a. New Zealander, and Mr Spoerli, a Swiss, were included because of their experience in the New Zealand and European alps. No Insects Attached to the party were Mr A. Zavis, a topographer with ■ the United .States Geological Survey, who established the locations and altitudes of several mountains for calibration of photomapping, ’and Mr K. P. Rennell, an entomologist with the Bishop Museum, Hawaii. Mr Rennell ' searched unsuccessfully for insects, but found specimens of lichens and algae, and measured weather variables close to growing surfaces.

The scientists and helicopter crews were based at Camp Gould, about 800 miles from the South Pole and 1300 miles from McMurdo Station. It was nicknamed “Antarctic Sun Valley” because of the clear weather, which averaged a relatively warm 15. degrees Fahrenheit above zero. Exploration of the Ellsworth mountains marked the fifth season of a long-term study of Antarctic mountains, and the third season of investigations in the area by the . University of Minnesota under the direction of Dr. J C. Craddock. The ultimate purpose is to determine . • the causes of formation of the mountains .and mountain layers and to relate them with other areas of Antarctica. Fossils .Found A particular goal of this year’s work was to determine if the Ellsworth mountains are linked with the AntarctAndes chain to the north or the Trans Antarctic chain to the south, and if they were caused by the same uplifts. The geologists found fossils . which' appear to them to be identical with those found in other ranges, waiting expert identification back in the United States. The Ellsworth mountains were discovered in 1935 from the air by the explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, but were not visited by a ground party until 1957. They appear to be isolated, but mountains rarely occur this way, according to the geologists. Links With other systems may be buried beneath the deep ice blanketing the largely-unexplored surrounding territory. The scientists hope

■analysis of their . collection® will. give them clues about the land beneath the Continental icecap, which is more than two miles thick in places and covers all but the higher: mountains. Exposed rocks of peaks above the snow provide the only direct information about that which lies beneath the ice.

Five scientists made a trip to the .Jones mountains in another area after returning from the ■ Ellsworth mountains. They spent- a day exploring by .conventional methods a unique feature, the importance of. which was realised during analysis of results obtained by . a field party that investigated the area two years ago. Icecap or Lava

Mr Rutford said they saw evidence that a striated surface. between the oldest rocks of the area- and newer glacial deposits may have been caused by an icecap that covered the area before the formation of the present ice sheet, or. may be caused by lava that once, flowed over the region. The party did about 300 hours’- flying and covered thousands of miles. They collected 3500 pounds of samples. The turbo-prop beliconters, designed to be most efficient at high altitudes, could land on peaks that were barely large enough for their landing skids to be secure. They hovered over smaller, areas or otherwise inaccessible spots and the scientists jumped to the ground. A thin “snow bridge” concealing a deep . crevasse collapsed under Mr i. Bastien’s feet, and he plunged 20ft before falling unhurt on a ledge. One of the pilots fell nearly 800 ft down an almost perpendicular slope, and only a decline in this slope and a layer of soft snow at the bottom saved him from death or serious injury.