Six weeks sojourn on Ice 'boring9

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 4

Six weeks sojourn on Ice 'boring 9

After almost six weeks in Antarctica, Sven-Olof Ahlqulst’s first description of the Ice was “boring.” Mr Ahlquist and his two companions, Jan Friden and Allan Laugesen, arrived in Christchurch late last evening after a 12hour flight. The three men are the crew of the Twin Otter aircraft attached to the 90 Degrees South expedition. The expedition’s support ship Aurora left the Bay of Whales in Antarctica yesterday also. Mr Ahlquist said the most trying part was waiting at Cape Evans for the Aurora to break through the ice to reach them. The three were also stuck in a tent for three days and two nights when the weather closed in.

“It was boring,” said Mr Ahlquist. “Nothing to do but eat and sleep.” The three men are pleased to be in Christchurch but are anxious to return home to Greenland, which they left on October 8.

Apart from the long wait, the Twin Otter crew experienced no problem.

The 90 Degrees South expedition is led by Dr Monica Kristensen, a Norwegian glaciologist. Dr Kristensen and her three companions — two Norwegian men and one Briton — set off on foot on December 16 to retrace the steps of Roald Amundsen, whose party in 1911 was the first to reach the South Pole.

The Twin Otter, chartered from Greenlandair Charter was used to lay five supply depots along the route to be followed by the four people and 22 huskies. Chief Pilot Sven-Olof

Ahlquist and two others left Invercargill Airport on November 12 to fly 1212 nautical miles to an iceberg. The expedition’s ship Aurora was nearby, and the plane was refuelled.

The iceberg, at 60deg south, 169 deg east, was 800 metres by 800 metres and about 80 metres high. Mr Ahlquist said there was no problem landing on the iceberg. “It was quite big for that aircraft,” he said. "The surface was almost like a dance floor.” The Twin Otter then flew on to Cape Evans on Ross Island where it landed on a sea-ice strip prepared by three members of a previous South Pole expedition, led by Robert Swan and Roger Mears, two Englishmen who stayed behind.

Meanwhile the Aurora sailed to the Bay of Whales and was in position on December 12. The helicopter on board the ship was used to find a suitable landing strip for the Twin Otter, ' which

flew another 360 nautical miles to reach it.

The five supply depots which the Twin Otter laid stretch across 1350 km from the Bay of Whales to the South Pole.

The route spans the Ross Ice Shelf, up the Axel Heiberg Glacier and crosses the polar plateau past the Titan Dome. The fifth drop is 120 km from the Pole. The Twin Otter then flew to Moubray Bay, where the Aurora had found it a runway on seaice.

The Otter left for New Zealand yesterday at 11.24 a.m. New Zealand time.

The plane was originally due to arrive at Invercargill at 11 p.m. but strong tail winds pushed it along, and the pilot decided to head for Christchurch.

The Aurora is due back at Lyttelton at the end of the month and will return to Antarctica next month with a party of Norwegian scientists.