Detour for expedition

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 8

Detour for expedition

NZPA-AP St Paul, Minnesota Members of the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition were reportedly in good spirits after detouring around the first gaping crevasse encountered since beginning their 6400 km dog-sled trek. The expedition, led by Will Steger of Minnesota and a Frenchman, JeanLouis Etienne, made radio contact with members of the support crew at an Antarctic research base and in Punta Arenas, Chile, on Sunday for the

first time since the trek began. “Everyone’s happy, in good spirits,” said Cathy DeMoll, administrator of the St Paul-based expedition. The expedition covered 3.2 km after leaving late on Thursday, moved Bkm on Friday and travelled 16km on Saturday, she said. The pace was expected to quicken after a French film crew still accompanying the explorers returned to the startup base. On Sunday, the group came up to a “very, very

big crevasse, longer than the dogs and sleds combined,” said Mr Etienne, a French physician, by radio. The adventurers will travel for three weeks along the flat, protected lee of the Larsen Ice Shelf. They will cover 480 km before beginning their climb to the peaks of the Antarctic Peninsula. Then they will trudge over crusted snow dunes and dodge crevasses for 1500 km before arriving at the base of the Ellsworth Mountains by mid-October.