Antarctic Party-Ready To Leave

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31501, 16 October 1967, Page 12

Antarctic PartyReady To Leave

The team qf eight which Sir Edmund Hillary will lead on a five weeks climbing and exploring expedition to the Antarctic assembled in Christchurch yesterday. The party will leave for McMurdo Station tomorrow.

Sir Edmund Hillary, who will return to the Antarctic for the first time for 10 years, said he was very much looking forward to it. An ascent will be made of the 11,700 ft Mount Herschel in the Admiralty Range of the Ross Dependency, which he describes as “an interesting climb.” Preparations for the activities of the party have already been completed and its 40001 b of stores and two 3401 b snowmobiles (which along with tents and equipment will be tested in the Antarctic) have already been flown to Scott Base.

Sir Edmund Hillary and the team expect to be flown to Cape Hallett, 380 miles north of McMurdo Station, possibly the day after their arrival at McMurdo Sound. From Hallett they will establish a base camp near the foot of the mountain and within three days it is expected that a reconnaissance of the mountain will be made. The ascent is likely to be up the eastern side of Mount Herschel. The mountain rises abruptly from the sea. The party will later trek 50 miles to the Robertson Bay area for geological studies and more mountaineering. Members of the party are: the deputy-leader, Mr N. D. Hardie, of Christchurch, one of the Dominion’s foremost mountaineers: Mr M. White, also of Christchurch, who has been to the Antarctic once previously: Mr M. R. Ellis, a Dunedin engineer and one of the team of five which reached the Amundsen-Scott

South Pole station with Sir Edmund Hillary during the Trans-Antarctic Expedition: Mr B. Jenkinson, a guide at Mount Cook; Mr G. Hancox, a Wellington geologist, who has been in the Antarctic twice before; Dr H. J. Harrington, a professor of geology at the New England University, New South Wales; Dr M. Gill, of Auckland, the expedition’s medical officer, who also has had Himalayan experience: and Dr P. J. M. Strang, an experienced mountaineer.