Scott Base head Rangiora lawyer and climber

Press, 13 July 1988, Page 3

Scott Base head Rangiora lawyer and climber

A Rangiora lawyer, Mr David Crerar, has been appointed officer in charge of Scott Base for the approaching summer season. Mr Crerar, aged 41, is looking forward to the challenge and returning to Antarctica after a 24-year absence. He visited Antarctica during the 1964-65 season as a member of a Queen’s scouts group. He believed he had been chosen because of his administrative background in a law office. “I have never applied for the position before and am honoured to have been selected,” Mr Crerar said. , He would be the “mainstayer” at the base and would be in charge of about 50 support staff. “There will be about 250 New Zealanders going through the area during the season,” Mr Crerar said. His job was mostly “behind a desk” and there would be no need for him to “support an ice pick.” Mr Crerar is a senior partner in the law firm of Fraser Venning Crerar and Coroner for

North Canterbury. He has been a member of the Canterbury Mountaineering Club for 23 years, and has climbed Mount Cook four times and climbed 11 other peaks over 3000 m. He will be away from the law firm for seven months, three of which will be spent with the D.S.I.R. in Christchurch and from October to February at Scott Base. Mr Crerar has served as vice-president of the Canterbury regional committee of the Mountain Safety Council and has also acted as team leader and search controller. He has instructed in mountain craft at club level. He said he was looking forward to seeing the “new” Scott Base which has been completely rebuilt in the last 11 years. He said that only four of the original buildings remained from his last visit. The hardest time at the base would be Christmas. He would leave behind his wife and three children, aged 14, six, and two. “It will be the first Christmas away from my family,” Mr Crerar said.