ANTARCTICA

ANTARCTICA Mount Herschel, Cape Hallett. The members of our party were all experienced mountaineers: Sir Edmund Hillary, leader, N. D. Hardie, Dr. H. J. Harrington, G. Hancox, M. R. Ellis, M. White, Dr. M. Gill, Dr. P. Strang and B. Jenkinson. On October 21, 1967 we loaded our 6000 pounds of equipment, food and fuel into a U. S. Navy ski-equipped Hercules at McMurdo Sound and took off for Hallett. When we arrived near the spectacular mountains around the Tucker Glacier, Admiral Abbott took over the driver’s seat and gave us a remarkable reconnaissance of the east face of Herschel and the Maubray Glacier to the north. We landed at Cape Hallett very subdued by what we had seen. At first the travelling was easy for our heavily laden snowmobiles but then we struck pressure ridges and wide areas of deep snow. It was three days before we had Base Camp established on the sea ice at the foot of the mountain only 17 miles from Hallett Station. Our first obstacle was the great ice cliff surrounding the bay. Access to the northeast spur was made by an impressive side valley with a steep icefall in its upper section. On the crest of the spur at 3400 feet we established an assault camp. Gill and Jenkinson spent the first night there and at 5:30 next morning set off up the mountain. They overcame the technical problems of the mountain:

the first snow peak, the great ice wall and the 1500-foot slope leading to the north shoulder. On the shoulder they stopped for a brewup and a meal and then continued along the exposed north ridge. They traversed across onto the snow basin on the west side of the mountain and then abruptly up the steep 1500 feet of the final rock cone. At seven p.m. they were standing on the sharp rock spike of the summit at 11,000 feet. Next day Strang and White repeated the climb and found it equally demanding in their 25-hour round-trip. E d m u n d H il l a r y , Alpine Club