TEAM WORK

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 73, 19 December 1929, Page 11

TEAM WORK

ANTARCTIC SLOGAN EVERYBODY HELPS (Russell Owen, Special Correspondent with Commander Byrd’s Expedition. —Copyright) Little America, October 2L Making and breaking camp quickly are always difficult on the trait Amundsen found that It took him more than two hours to get going in the morning, before practice enabled him to cut down the time. It requires team-work and skill, and speed is only acquired after it has been, done again and again. Making camp is perhaps the easier job of the two. When the sledges halt at the end of the day’s run, which may be anything from 10 to 20 miles, depending on the weather and the surface of the snow, the drivers first picket their dogs and feed them cakes of dog pemmican. Special picket lines of control cable, such as is used on the aeroplanes, have been made so that the two ends may be staked down through loops and the dogs fastened by chains hooked into loops at regular intervals on the cable. They are very strong and not heavy’. Cooking Difficulties. While this is being done another man put up the cook tent and starts the stove. A special tent for cooking will be taken by the geological party, which will be away from camp for three months, because so much moisture is caused by the stove and collects in rime on the inside of the tent, from where it falls into sleeping bags and on to clothing. To get rid of this moisture, for wet things are cold, the extra tent is taken. While the stove is melting snow the other two tents used to shelter the men will be erected and the sleeping bags put inside them. Then the radio antenna will be erected, so that, if necessary, communication with the base may be obtained. By the time this is done the evening meal will be ready, and after it the men will curl up in their sleeping bags for a smoke before going to sleep.

This procedure will be reversed in the morning, and breakfast will take only a short time, because the oatmeal is already cooked. When it is over the drivers will begin harnessing their dogs, while the leader packs the tents and stove on the sledges and lashes them. The sleeping bags are then stowed on top in their windproof bags, and the party is ready to start. Just how long it will take nobody dares to guess yet, but the hope is to get away within a reasonably short time.

On some days, when there are blizzards, it will not be possible to travel, and then the party will stay in their tents and pass the time as best they can, and there is not much to do. There may be a book or two which can be read when conversation lags, and one can always sleep. Into the Mountains.

The trail of the geological party will follow that of the supporting party as far as the fourth depot at 81 degrees 45 minutes south. They will pass around the badly crevassed region about 45 miles south of Little America and over the many deep crevasses just before the fourth depot is reached.

From that point until they get close to the mountains their path will lie over fairly smooth, unbroken surface until just before the mountains are reached.

There they will meet huge undulations like ice waves caused by the glaciers pressing down into the barrier, and the camp will probably be in one of these wide hollows about 20 miles north of Mount Nansen.

The geological party will carry the same safety equipment as the supporting party, strong belts to which alpine rope can be attached when the men are roped together near crevasses or on new trails, bamboo poles, and a block and tackle for hauling a sledge out of a crevasse. Avalanche Dangers, The sleds are long so as to span most crevasses or cover a large part of a snow bridge, and the load is divided between the two sledges hauled by each team, so as to distribute the weight. The party will also have smoke bombs to signal to a ’plane or to a member of the party who may become lost. The geological party will do a lot of climbing when the mountains are reached, and will use crampons, steel frames fitted with spikes which are fastened to the ski boots, and alpenstocks. The chief danger in the mountains will be from avalanches.

The party will also have some strips of orange cloth for use in signalling to the ’plane. These may be placed in a score of positions, each of which conveys a definite message to a ’plane circling overhead, so that there may be cooperation between the flying party and the party on the ground; and a number of rendezvous have also been arranged so that if the ’plane should be forced down the two parties will be able to meet.