Monday 24 December 1973
The morning radio schedules were normal except that the Shapeless Mountain party did not make contact on time. They checked in about and hour later and rather sheepishly confessed to having overslept.
The ice on the ground between the huts and the cold corridor is still giving us trouble. It requires a power pick to shatter and is very difficult to shovel but when it melts it runs inside giving even worse problems. It is about 1 to 1½ feet thick in the worst places and was only discovered after we had removed about 4 feet of covering snow. I suspect it is more than one year’s accumulation. There is now water running into the Laboratory store and the ration cold store entrance steps.
At midday Gary Brehaunt and Bob Stanley set off in a SnoTrac to collect the party from Royds. Ian Clement and Peter Ramsden returned from checking seals at Cape Evans area. They were disappointed that a lot of tags have been tearing off.
The corridor drain heating wire failed and the drain froze. Chris Wilkins has been all day trying to dig the pipe out so that it can be heated and thawed but permafrost does not give up easily.
I have had to make the decision to have John Warriner replaced since I have been unable to reconcile him and Titch Gibson the Postmaster.
Conditions at 0900 hours wind not recorded Temperature -4.6°C
Ration Strength 30
Cold corridors link various huts which make up Scott Base
Tuesday 25 December 1973
Xmas Day. To my surprise few of our residents visited McMurdo. Ray Colliver cooked and elaborate and splendid midday meal and we had a cold buffet supper. In the best tradition Bob Stanley and I volunteered to do mouse but Bob really made a gesture when he completed the entire night mouse duty list single handed. He left on the aircraft early on Boxing Day and I hope had the sleep he deserved on the trip north.
During supper Dr Vladimir Ponemarev visited us and had a look at our dogs.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind South-South-East 15 knots Temperature -6.2°C
Ration Strength 31
Wednesday 26 December 1973
Harry Keys, John McPherson and Bob Stanley emplaned for NZ just after breakfast. Bill Johnson discovered that the Americans had put two D4 tractors on the sea ice as being beyond repair. Instantly the Kiwi scavenging instincts were aroused and a succession of our vehicles struggled backwards and forwards through the snow collecting track plates, bottom rollers and other badly needed gear. Finally, our own D4 having been upgraded in this way, we decided to take it to the abandoned tractors and bring in a real haul. But in this we bit off more than chew. Our D4 sank through a patch of soft snow into a melt pool and it took about three hour’s hard work to get it out again.
At the same time Bill Johnson and Bob Newland removed the kitchen range and commenced to install the new one. The heating element in the corridor well drain has failed and the drain is blocked. Since the drain goes under the floor, this is going to cause a lot of work.
I spent some time discussing with Ian Thomas, his photometer programme. This could be a lot of work, which will be a good thing. Late in the day we got Nigel Bingham and Ian Thomas away to the South Pole.
Ian Clements undertook the annual seal census by helicopter (1945) and the same aircraft took Maurice Conly and the caretakers back to Cape Evans.
Conditions at 0900 hours Calm Temperature -2.5°C
Ration Strength 28
Thursday 27 December 1973
This morning we sent Tony Bromley back to Vanda somewhat cured. The aircraft then went on to move the Italian party from Fryxell to the Blue glacier after doing some infra-red surveys from the air.
I arranged a short course in snowcraft for those people here who had missed the Tekapo course (ie, Warren Featherston, Chris Sloan and Leo Slattery). They were returning from the training area when the Nodwell lent to them by the NSF group shed a track.
USARP Nodwell Truck
The kitchen stove replacement continues. The floor under the old stove had a couple of holes burned in it each a couple of square feet in area. We are still working on the corridor drain.
Howard Dingate arrived back from Vanda with a chest problem rather similar to Bromley’s. The Cape McKay party arrived back late in the evening, sunburned but satisfied that they had marked the early part of a good route to Cape Crozier for the later expedition to install the plaques. We have now found a way to use the chainsaws in conjunction with power picks to cut ice for the melters quickly. The saws cut slots in the ice and the picks then knock out the ice between the slots in the blocks, much as a carpenter uses a chisel to knock out the wood between saw cuts when making a mortice joint.
Warren Featherston is now most concerned about his equipment which despite our every efforts still has not arrived.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 5 knots Temperature -8.5°C
Ration Strength 23
Friday 28 December 1973
We were able to use the helicopters which today withdrew Janet Crump’s VUWAE party from Shapeless Mountain, to carry Titch Gibson, Nigel Bingham and Ian Thomas to Vanda. With some misgivings I agreed to let the Shapeless group leave a dump of fuel at their camp site. The group or a similar one is almost certain to be back next year and leaving the fuel saved a helo trip.
Titch Gibson, who acts as local agent for the Vanda staff, needs to consult with each of them about their finances, Nigel Bingham wished to interview Janet but was unable to do so and Ian Thomas investigated Vanda as a site for observations supplementary to his main photometer programme.
We learned that the Italian party planned to climb Mount Lister which we reported to Antarctic Division. On their instructions we advised the group that unless the climb could be substantiated as scientifically necessary it was not approved. I reported to the sick bay with a bruised chest that fails to improve and find that I have a broken rib.
Our two physicists for Siple (know as the disciples) were told to be at Williams Field for take off at 1700 hours. They left with broad smiles but came back two hours later looking quite dejected. The weather at Siple had deteriorated.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind South-East 9 knots Temperature -1.2°C
Ration Strength 27
Saturday 29 December 1973
Today Ray Colliver held a ceremonial first lighting of the new stove. It seems to go pretty well. In a light snowfall we continued our efforts to free the blocked corridor drain. We are making only slow progress.
During today’s ice collecting expedition one of our chaps drove the Cobra power pick into the ice and was startled when it sank up to the handles. On pulling it out we found the bit had fallen out. We excavated busily for a while to find that we were standing over a crevasse which fell round a curve and out of sight. Even after we had lowered John Warriner into it headfirst until only his boots were showing above the surface we still couldn’t recover the bit and eventually decided to abandon it.
This afternoon the entire Base population lined up on the West side of the area each with a cleansack and moved downhill to the east picking up rubbish. We put all the cleansacks into the incinerator and most of them we full.
Late in the day we had a message that Professor Segre of the Italian party was ill. After a lot of radio talk we were able to divert a helicopter which brought him to Scott Base. He seems to have a lung or chest infection. Steve Warder didn’t make it back from Vanda in time to catch his plane to NZ.
Conditions at 0900 hours not recorded
Ration Strength 27
Sunday 30 December 1973
Early this morning Ian Clement, Gary Brehant and Bob Newland got away with the dogs to look at the seal colony on White Island which interests Ian. Since we are saving fuel it seems a fair thing to use the dogs for this trip. Neil Thompson and Chris Sloan (the disciples) finally flew out to Siple. At last the corridor drain has been cleared and we no longer have to bail every half hour.
Conditions at 0900 hours Wind North-North-East 7 knots Temperature +1.7°C
Ration Strength 23
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