Bitter-sweet end to 70-day South Pole trek

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 9

Bitter-sweet end to 70-day South Pole trek

The emotion-charged atmosphere that greeted three Footsteps of Scott expedition trekkers as they reached the South Pole was a brief but sweet prelude to the sad news that was broken to them minutes later.

“Imagine our feelings in the emotion and excitement of that moment on being told the Southern Quest sunk five minutes ago,” said the leader of the expedition, Mr Robert Swan, on returning to Christchurch yesterday.

Messrs Swan, Roger Mear and Gareth Wood had trudged the 1400 km from Cape Evans pulling sleds loaded with equipment and rations.

“Every step of the way we had that sense of following in the footsteps of Scott,” he said. The trio left Cape Evans on November 3, the same date on which Scott set out on his ill-fated journey in 1911.

Their arrival at the South Pole 70 days later was five days quicker than their most optimistic predictions, and 50 days ahead of the cut-off date they gave to the United States Government.

It took them eight days to cross the Beardmore Glacier at an average of 17.28 miles a day, and 38 days to cross the ice barrier at an average 10.45 miles a day.

The Plateau was traversed at an average daily speed of 15.85 miles.

Mr Swan said there had been no problems with the dried and instant food they had survived on during the walk.

“In fact we looked forward to it every night. We obviously suffered less from hunger than Scott’s people apparently did, thanks to technological advances since that time.”

“It was tough going,” he said. “I lost 251 b but coming through it together was so tremendously rewarding.” Mr Mear said there had been four days when they had been unable to move at all because of bad weather.

“Then we stayed in our tents and in our sleeping bags drinking hot chocolate.”

The coldest temperatures they faced were —3odeg. on the Plateau, and they constantly had —20 deg. in the evenings. Mr Mear said he had not been too anxious about achieving a set target of miles a day. Instead, he set out to walk nine hours a day in three stints, broken with 30 minutes rests.

Crossing the Beardmore Glacier was easily the worst part of the trek for the expedition leader. Mr Swan was slowed down by an injured right knee, and he had to walk extra hours to keep to the pace set by Messrs Wood and Mear.

“I really appreciated them not slowing down, because when one sets oneself a goal and for the first time in one’s life one finds difficulty meeting it, then one

realises you have a job to do and you get on with it." Mr Swan said the problem with his right knee lasted only a few days. It was caused, he thought, by the strain of walking over rough terrain.

“There was no problem with frost bite,” said Mr Swan. “There were no health problems at all except for blistering on exposed parts of the face.” Apart from the bad news about the support ship, the welcome given to them by the Americans at the South Pole was overwhelming and unforgettable, he said. The walkers’ specially insulated sleeping bags had kept them warm — too warm in fact, at times. “One of the main things in the Antarctic is to not get too hot. When we were walking we were wearing only light clothing to stop overheating. When we stopped walking, of course, we had to be careful not to get cold,” Mr Swan said. He praised his companion’s skill in judging the right equipment and pace for the trek.

“Roger got it exactly right, and I was delighted to use the equipment,” he said.