Part III: Antarctica and Academe - Scott Polar Research Institute

palette knife - and showed us his production of paintings to date; with the exception
of the most recent they were all of South Georgia. We were impressed. I planned to
fly across the Weddell Sea to Adelaide and now I spoke with Steve Wormald on the
radio. We agreed that 27 January was the first possible day for the flight.
Next day was dull again and after packing, David Smith did a charcoal portrait of
me and he and Ed Mickleburgh photographed me - all for the planned exhibition of
paintings and photographs they were to put on at the Commonwealth Institute in
London. After lunch I left the ship at about 2 o’clock in the Rothera snowcat for
Halley bay - with Brian and Eric, Donald Hadley driving. We pulled a single sledge
with a moderate load, because the snowcat was being run in. It was a surprisingly
interesting journey, considering that it was for 41 miles at 8 mph over a featureless
white plain, following the marker line of black drums. Don drove the first 2 hrs and
we had a break for a snack and coffee at the caboose about 15 miles out, with John
McLure and Dave Hogg who were in an IH going the same way, but at only 2 mph! I
then drove the rest of the way - 4 hrs, meeting Ian Rutherford and Dad Etchells
coming the other way in two slow IHs. As we continued the sea came in sight again,
dotted with icebergs. During the drive the weather varied from mank - to blizzard -
to clear. At times white-out conditions made it difficult to see where we were going.
Also an impression strengthened - an optical illusion - that we were travelling
downhill most of the way; not so, for the shelf ice was floating and so the surface was
flat with slight undulations.
At last Halley Bay base came in sight. We drove along by the airstrip to the stores
area and left the snowcat with the base Fids, who unloaded it as we walked to base.
It was good to be back and climb 20 ft down the ladders to the warm lighted base
below - under the ice. I had a long talk with Ken Back. After a meal and talk we got
to bed about 12.30 am., sharing a 2-bunk room with Eric. Roy Piggott had had a
useful few days already on base.
About 9 am or so Ken Back took us around on a base inspection - myself, Eric,
Brian and Roy. It was much the same as on my previous visit two years before,
although it was more 'lived-in' and so more comfortable. It all looked in good shape.
The men were very proud of a deep freeze they had constructed by digging an ice
cave out from the base tunnels in which the huts stand. There was a short tunnel and
then a gleaming cave, silvery in the light, lined with ice crystals of various shapes,
spiky or hexagonal, flat or three dimensional - glittering like diamonds. Food was
stored there and a small adjoining cell was for frozen meat. The main ‘room’ was
stable at about -12°, the other about -20°C. We inspected the main base complex;
new to me was the workshop and connecting tunnel, which also served as a store. In
the afternoon we were to inspect the remainder of the base complex, but on climbing
to the surface we found it was snowing, returned down the ladder and Eric and I
spent the rest of the day talking with the men one by one. They all seemed to have
had a good year and enjoyed their time with BAS; few problems emerged. We saw
John Main, Steve Norris, Malcolm Daley, Graham Maudesley, Clive Sweetingham
and John McClure. So the whole day passed and bedtime was 12.30 am again.
The weather remained bad and the vehicles were having a difficult time - with
breakdowns and soft snow surfaces making for slow travel. BAS is not geared for
low shelf relief - it had never been necessary in the history of the base - and we must
contingency plan for the future. The IHs took 24 hrs one-way and that night some
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