Comms, Author at Antarctic Heritage Trust

About Comms

This author has not written his bio yet.
But we are proud to say that Comms contributed 348 entries already.

Entries by Comms

Antarctic Blog, Hillary's Hut, News Story

Raising the Roof

Antarctic Heritage Trust has finished the last major job of saving Sir Edmund Hillary’s hut at Scott Base – installing a new roof. The Trust raised nearly a million dollars to save the hut, also known as the TAE/IGY Hut, which was built by a team under Sir Ed’s leadership in 1957 just before his famous dash to the South Pole. While working to conserve Hillary’s (TAE) Hut in 2016, the need for a weather-tight long-term roofing solution was identified. Programme Manager Al Fastier says the Trust wanted the roofing solution to last a minimum of 35 years but more […]

News Story, UKAHT

Stunning Stonington

The Trust is delighted to have our team assisting UKAHT on the Antarctic Peninsula as part of the new multi-year agreement.

News Story

New Field Camp for Oldest Site

A chance chat at a workshop between Trust Programme Manager Al Fastier and Queenstown adventurer Erik Bradshaw established a mutual interest in water tank huts. Al was in the process of designing a remote field camp and Erik had built a prototype tank hut as an emergency backcountry ski hut. From there, a desire was born to work together to design a ‘tank hut’ that would be suitable for the extreme Antarctic environment. Erik worked with Al and the Trust’s structural engineer Win Clark to design the turks. Each turk has a 10m2 floor area and the three structures form […]

Antarctic Blog

Reflections from Antarctic Ambassador Chris Ansin

When I talk to people about what it is like to visit and live in Antarctica, everyone’s imagination is that Antarctica is an incredibly remote, beautiful and stunning environment. While no truer words have been spoken, Antarctica has left a very different, and for me, even more special impression. It was the environment that the people created, one of collaboration, hard work, friendship and happiness. Nowhere else have I ever experienced something more powerful than being surrounded by people where everyone was living the life that made them happy. I feel humbled to have worked alongside some of the most […]

Antarctic Blog

An Antarctic Ambassador’s Awe – Diana McCormack

Since getting back everyone has been asking me “Well, how was it?” and I keep finding myself short on adjectives. It’s hard to sum up just how special a place Antarctica really is or the real sense of privilege I found at being able to work in the historic huts. I met lots of interesting and lovely people, went snow-caving, bounced over the sea ice in a Hagglund, camped in sight of Mt Erebus, flew over the Barne glacier in a helicopter and learned so much about the first expeditions to the Ross Sea. Joining Al and Lizzie and the […]

Films, News Story

The Last 36

The Last 36 was filmed by James Blake, and follows the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition to South Georgia to mark the centenary of the first crossing of the island. Watch the Last 36 now The expedition retraced Shackleton, Frank Worsley, and Tom Crean’s heroic journey to get help for the crew of the ill-fated ship, ‘Endurance’. This remains one of the most remarkable survival stories in history. James Blake was one of three young people chosen for the crossing, alongside Sinéad Hunt from Ireland and Tom MacTavish from New Zealand. The three were selected to honour the nationalities […]

Antarctic Blog

Cod Liver Oil

The team is back at Scott Base now and enjoying the relative luxuries (bathrooms, meals being served up for us, mattresses instead of roll mats). I have been working in the lab here on some objects that need conservation before they can be placed or re-placed into their original locations in the historic huts. Of special interest are a small group of objects that have been donated to the Trust this year. We have several cans of cocoa, a bottle of cod liver oil, a lacquered matchbox that still contains matches, and a jar of table salt. What these objects have in […]

Antarctic Blog

Life of luxury

Much like the differences in the historic huts, compared to the cosy cabin at Cape Royds in which we were cooking dinner, Cape Evans field camp was a five star hotel. It had a heater, a gas stove, you could fit more than 2 people in there without having to squeeze, and most importantly it came with a fresh supply of survival chocolate! It was here that we encountered our first storm of the season, but like the hard explorers that built these huts, a little poor weather wasn’t going to stop us from working to restore the hut. We […]

Antarctic Blog

Life at Scott Base!

Adjusting back to life at Scott Base is like returning home from a long holiday. There are regular meal times, feasts would be a more accurate description. At 7, 10, 12, 3, and 6 you are fed with mounds of food with plate sizes starting at large. There is a running joke that you have to eat more than your body weight in food as you are in Antarctica and you never know when your next meal is going to be. If you are not careful you will end up looking like the seals out on the sea ice. Life […]

Hillary's Hut, Media Releases, News Story

Final Touches go on Sir Ed’s Antarctic Hut

The Trust raised nearly a million dollars to save the hut, also known as the TAE/IGY Hut, which was built by a team under Sir Ed’s leadership in 1957 just before his famous dash to the South Pole. The fundraising campaign included a 2012-kilometre tractor journey from Piha Beach to Mount Cook, collecting donations on the way. The team are now thrilled to have completed conservation work on an iconic piece of Kiwi history. New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust programme manager Al Fastier says it’s been a long and successful road to save the hut and conserve the hundreds of […]