Sledging Notes & Tales (continued)
I dispute the contention that miles became the yardstick of success. My 5-month trip on King George Island in which we only covered 300 miles was far more stressful and difficult, and I think more dangerous than the 6-month trip out of Stonington when we covered well over 2,500 miles.
We tended to run two teams (often only 7 dogs) and 3 men in heavily crevassed areas and in less demanding areas 2 men and one or two teams.
The dogs were our friends, enemies, kicking blocks, life savers, transport and general all round companions. They were terrific.
There is a very special proprietary relationship between driver and dogs. I trained my own team, “The Terrors” from four-month old pups. The leader, Hardy, was older by six months After a year and 1200 miles we had such pleasure in each other’s company and confidence in each other that we could drive up our local Hill,‘433‘, a 1 in 7 slope, with commands no louder than a conversation and they could be fed on their fan traces in silence. During my second year it became necessary to look for a successor to drive the team. A young serviceman joined us and attached himself to the ‘Terrors‘ and we drove them together and eventually I let him take them a short sledge journey without me. To my horror I heard over the radio that their new driver was resorting to his barrack square brawl and the dogs did not like it or understand it. Fighting broke out and Hardy returned on a sledge, bleeding and cowed. The young serviceman was quickly transferred to a static dog-less base.
Noel Downham – Met. Admiralty Bay – 1960; GA – Hope Bay – 1961 & 1963; GA/BC – Stonington – 1964