Scott Base receives surprise visit

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 3

Scott Base receives surprise visit

The 11 men wintering at Scott Base in Antarctica had two surprise visitors arrive on bicycles last Friday evening. The officer in charge at Scott Base, Mr Leo Slattery, said from Scott Base yesterday that Mr Roger Mear and Dr Michael Stroud had walked into Scott Base on Friday evening. The two men are part of a five-man party wintering at Cape Evans before Mr Mear and Mr Robert Swan set out on foot for the South Pole in a recreation of Captain Scott’s historic journey of 1910-1912. They call their expedition "In the Footsteps of Scott.”

Mr Slattery said that Mr Mear and Dr Stroud had set out on their 15-gear BMX bicycles and had journeyed to Scott Base over ice and snow. They stopped at the McMurdo Hospital on their way to Scott Base. For much of the journey the bikes had had to be carried because there was too much snow to ride through. The journey had taken all day.

Scott Base has been keeping a listening watch for the expedition members on a pre-arranged frequency once a week, and no mention of the proposed visit had been made the last time the two parties spoke, Mr Slattery said. Their visit had come as a complete, but pleasant, surprise. "It is good to see new faces,” he said. The visitors left to return to Cape Evans on Monday morning after showering and resting at Scott Base for two days. Mr Slattery said there was a limited twilight at Scott Base from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day. The temperature at the base yesterday morning was —37.sdeg. C. with winds of up to 30 knots, creating a wind chill that took the temperature as low as — 80deg. Mr Slattery reported that the English” expeditioners seemed happy with their camp at Cape Evans, and reported they had overcome earlier generator problems.