The story of what happened to Rock, his 24 hour nursing and medical care by Neil, Graham and I and his ultimate evacuation has been well documented in ‘Of Ice and Men’ by Sir Vivian Fuchs. We had been nursing Rock for a week and it was becoming clear that we could run out of drugs such as morphine. Also, it was uncertain when an aircraft might be able to fly in to evacuate Rock. The solution to this was that Sledge X Ray comprising Mick Pawley (BC and GA) Martin Pearson (Glacio) and Jim Whitworth (GA) would travel from Fossil Bluff with new drug supplies using a Muskeg and skidoos. The skidoos were used to travel the last part of the journey across the plateau to the east coast evacuation camp. They arrived on 7th October. It was great to have extra help with the nursing shifts and of course the company was most welcome especially as they brought us some goodies. By the 12th October we felt more food and fuel supplies were needed so Jim and I headed off for Boomerang depot with one of the skidoos. Graham with the Komats followed us as guard sledge just in case of breakdowns. The skidoo absolutely bombed across the ice and I had all on hanging on to the sledge.
About 2 miles short of the depot we entered a zone of evil drifting snow and about 50 knots of wind. Visibility was limited and we steered too far west. However, eventually we found the depot and in spite of the now 60 knots of wind managed to load the sledge. It was quite a tricky operation carrying boxes across the glare ice slope. Shortly after setting off the sledge turned over and we had to un-lash and reload. By this time it was blowing and drifting 60 knots constantly. Unfortunately, snow drifted on to the skidoos hot engine, melted and refroze so we were stuck. The engine was an ice block. I decided to dig in, shelter and wait for Graham even if we had to spend the night there in the pup tent. I got a huge hole dug and then tried to call everyone on the radio but – not a sausage! Just at that moment (4.30 pm) the wind died and it cleared revealing Graham at the depot site.
His story had also been full of drama. He had waited short of the depot thinking that because of our speed he would bump into us on the way back. However, because there was no sign of the skidoo he pressed on into a very strong 70 knot wind, so strong in fact that he had to remove his skis and lie on the sledge to reduce resistance and make progress.
The skidoo tracks he was following were rapidly disappearing and unbeknown to him they were off course for the depot because we had travelled too far west in error. Anyway he did find the depot and as the weather cleared saw our waving arms some distance away. When we finally met, according to the journey report, Graham found me in a large grave type snow hole attempting to pitch a pup tent. We decided to temporarily leave everything and return with Graham and the Komats. The plan was to retrieve everything including the skidoos the next day.
Graham and I plus Jim and our dogs set off back to Boomerang on the 13th October. There was a good chance the aircraft would be able to fly today which was a great relief. We got there successfully and the weather held. The sledges were loaded and according to my personal diary Jim and I rode the skidoo sledge back.
The whole evacuation was all over in about half an hour which felt a bit weird having looked after Rock 24 hours a day for so long (14 days).
The skidoos lived to fight another day and returned to Fossil Bluff after Martin and Jim worked on them the next day. There is one thing about dogs regardless of the weather they were always willing to work; none of this icing up rubbish!
Not surprising then that there was a big party that night in Mick’s tent particularly with the flown in goodies (beer, steak, eggs, bread and cake).
For the Ladies, rescuing skidoos was becoming quite the thing in 1972.
