Four young New Zealanders, including William Pike who lost his leg during the 2007 eruption of Mount Ruapehu, have just returned from successfully summiting Mt Scott, in Antarctica.
Pike was with film-maker Simon Lucas, Royal New Zealand Air Force officer Sylvie Admore and Newshub journalist Isobel Ewing.
The group was hand-picked from approximately 100 applicants for the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s second Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition, led by the Trust’s executive director Nigel Watson.
Nigel Watson says the trip’s biggest challenge on the guided ascent was route finding because of the poor visibility on the lower reaches of Mt Scott.“There was extensive crevassed country. Mt Scott itself is a beautiful peak, set in the most awe-inspiring vista. The team spent 24 hours completing the adventure and remained in good spirits throughout.”
The group travelled to and from Antarctica onboard the 117-metre vessel One Ocean Navigator,which is owned and operated by expedition partner One Ocean Expeditions.
The Inspiring Explorers’ initiative is about encouraging young people to connect with Antarctica’s history and the spirit of exploration. Mt Scott is named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott whose Antarctic legacy the Trust cares for.
“All of our participants will be working hard to share the story of their Antarctic adventure both online and in person –we hope this inspires other Kiwis to make the most of exploring this fantastic world we live in,” says Nigel Watson.
Four young New Zealanders are about to embark on a journey others only dream of – to Antarctica. The group has been hand-picked from more than 100 applicants for the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s second Inspiring Explorers’ Expedition and includes some well-known Kiwis.
William Pike is a sought-after inspirational speaker who lost his leg during the 2007 Mt Ruapehu eruption. He is now the director of the William Pike Challenge Award, a youth development programme for years 7-9 students. William lives on Auckland’s North Shore. Isobel Ewing is a journalist working in the press gallery at Parliament for Newshub who is an avid skier, tramper and qualified open water diver. Isobel grew up in Tamahere, south of Hamilton. Film-maker Simon Lucas lives in Greenhithe. His short film ‘Paddle for the North’ has won several awards at international film festivals. It tells the story of Simon and five of his friends as they paddle 1,500-kilometres on canoes from Canada to Alaska. Kumeu’s Sylvie Admore is an officer of the Royal New Zealand Air Force who is passionate about New Zealand’s outdoors, teaching alpine skills courses and is a keen mountaineer.
In partnership with adventure cruise company One Ocean Expeditions the group will be led by Antarctic Heritage Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson. Expedition members depart New Zealand in mid-February 2017 when they fly to Ushuaia in Argentina before boarding the Akademik Ioffe, a 117-metre vessel, which will take them to the Antarctic Peninsula for two weeks. Nigel Watson says it will be an unbelievable trip.
“The Peninsula is a very special part of Antarctica –the wildlife and scenery there is incredible. It is also home to several international research stations.”
Nigel Watson says the peak of the trip (literally) will be an attempt at climbing a mountain. “If the weather permits, the group will attempt a guided ascent of Mt Scott. In climbing the heavily glaciated 880m peak, the young explorers will celebrate and continue the legacy of famous early explorer Robert Falcon Scott, from whom the mountain takes its name.”
Part of the Trust’s work is conserving heritage sites in Antarctica, including Captain Scott’s huts. It most recently restored Sir Edmund Hillary’s Hut at Scott Base. The Inspiring Explorers’ initiative is about encouraging young people to connect with Antarctica’s history and the spirit of exploration.
“All of our participants will be working hard to share the story of their Antarctic adventure both online and in person –it is this outreach that we hope inspires other Kiwis to make the most of this fantastic world we live in,” says Nigel Watson.
Expedition members
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The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition, an international centenary expedition to honour the legacy of the early Antarctic explorers, successfully crossed South Georgia Island.
The expedition,which took place 16-30 October 2015, was a new initiative for the Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand with the aim of inspiring explorers. The expedition followed in the footsteps of Ernest Shackleton (UK/ IRE), Tom Crean (IRE) and Frank Worsley (NZ).
The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand chose three young explorers, Tom MacTavish (NZ), Sinéad Hunt (IRE) and James Blake (UK/NZ) to nominally represent the original expedition members’ nationalities.
The Antarctic Heritage Trust New Zealand’s Executive Director, Nigel Watson led the expedition accompanied by two professional guides from One Ocean Expeditions. Sharing the expedition is a key part of the experience for the three young explorers. The expedition was tracked via YB tracker https://my.yb.tl/aht2015 and posted on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Antarctic.Heritage.Trust.
All three young explorers plan to share their experiences further. The expedition team disembarked ship at King Haakon Bay and crossed South Georgia on skis retracing the original route in a multi-day traverse of the Island before re-joining the ship at Stromness.
The original expedition undertaken by Shackleton, Crean and New Zealander Frank Worsley was the final 36 hour act of desperation and bravado to raise the alarm to rescue the crew of Shackleton’s Endurance expedition marooned on Elephant Island.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Walking up hill
Walking up hill
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The Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Inspiring Explorers Expedition 2015 to South Georgia Island left on 16 October 2015. TV3’s Isobel Ewing interviewed inspiring explorer Tom MacTavish in his home town of Moeraki, New Zealand, and looked back at what Shackleton, Crean and Worsley accomplished 100 years ago, crossing South Georgia Island to rescue the men of the Endurance.
On 13 October 2015 a function was held at the British High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand to farewell the Trust’s expedition. Hosted by the British High Commissioner and the Consulate General of Ireland, TVNZ was there to capture the story.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Inspiring explorers
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Today, New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key has launched the Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Conservation Plan for Hillary’s Hut, in front of more than 125 Antarcticansat Parliament.
Hillary’s Hut, ‘Hut A’, forms part of New Zealand’s first scientific facility at Scott Base. It is the original remaining building established with the support of the New Zealand Government for the country’s involvement in the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58. It is designated as a Historic Monument under the Antarctic Treaty in recognition of its importance in the history of exploration and science in Antarctica.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
NZ flag
The event was hosted by Hon Maggie Barry, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage and included surviving members of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955-58 and International Geophysical Year 1957-58and members of Sir Edmund Hillary’s family.
This conservation work is of great significance to New Zealand’s history. “Sir Ed was the patron of the Antarctic Heritage Trust up until his passing. We are honoured to have the opportunity,in partnership with Antarctica New Zealand, to conserve the origins of Scott Base once we secure the necessary funding,” says Nigel Watson, Executive Director, Antarctic Heritage Trust.
The Conservation Plan was written by a team of authors under the leadership of Conservation Architect Chris Cochran, and peer reviewed by international experts.
In 2012 the Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Antarctica New Zealand to manage this conservation work, including all fundraising for the site. Work will commence in the Antarctic summer of 2016-17 subject to the Trust securing funds.
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A Ferguson tractor, used by Sir Edmund Hillary’s party at the newly-constructed Scott Base during the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1955 –58,has been secured for public ownership through a public private partnership between Canterbury Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel Christchurch.
Museum Director Anthony Wright says the tractor, part of a private collection auctioned in Christchurch this morning, is one of the most significant items from this era to have come on the market in the last 20 years. Canterbury Museum already holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of items from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration and discovery and many items from the Trans-Antarctic Expedition including a Tucker Sno-cat and one of the tractors used by Hillary’s polar party which was the first motorised vehicle to reach the South Pole overland.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Hillary tractor
The tractor will be put on display at the Commodore Hotel as an attraction for hotel guests, many of whom are en route to Antarctica, until the Museum has space to show it in an expanded Antarctic exhibition. The tractor will also be made available to the Museum’s long-term partner, the Antarctic Heritage Trust,to support their marketing and fundraising activities including their project to conserve Hillary’s hut in Antarctica.
“It’s fantastic that the Museum has been able to secure this outstanding item of national importance for permanent public ownership with the help of private partners,” says Mr Wright. “The Museum will benefit in the short-term by having the tractor cared for and displayed at the Commodore until we have sufficient space to exhibit it in the Museum.”
The Museum used funding from the M. C. Richards Bequest,left to the Museum specifically to acquire Antarctic objects, to purchase the tractor. The Commodore Hotel has contributed to the acquisition cost as a gift to the people of Canterbury through the Museum. The commercial terms of the agreement between the Museum, the Antarctic Heritage Trust and the Commodore Hotel are confidential.
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The world’s most extreme conservation project has saved three historic buildings and thousands of artefacts once used by Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
The milestone was reached this Antarctic summer after a decade of extensive conservation work by the Antarctic Heritage Trust (New Zealand).
Over the life of the project 62 specialists from 11 countries have undertaken cutting edge heritage conservation unprecedented in its scale and complexity in the polar regions, to conserve Scott’s and Shackleton’s Antarctic legacy.
The three heroic-era buildings and their artefact collections were in danger of loss after a century of extreme environmental conditions. To combat this, and in a world-first, the Antarctic Heritage Trust has been working year round in Antarctica with the support of Antarctica New Zealand.
Working from purpose-built conservation laboratories, artefact conservators, have meticulously conserved 18,202 individual artefacts including food supplies, clothing, equipment and personal items left behind in the historic huts. Heritage carpenters have repaired and weatherproofed Scott’s huts at Cape Evans and Hut Point and Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, improving environmental conditions.
During the conservation work previously undiscovered artefacts have been found including most famously crates of Scotch whisky and brandy at Shackleton’s historic base, unseen photographs and a notebook from Scott’s historic hut at Cape Evans.
While ongoing maintenance of the buildings and artefacts from Scott’s and Shackleton’s bases remain a priority, the Antarctic Heritage Trust will now begin conservation work on the first building on the continent at Cape Adare and, upon securing funding, the original building, built for the Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1955-58, at New Zealand’s Scott Base.
“The dedication of the conservation teams and the passion for the legacy that they are saving has been the key to the project’s success.We are particularly grateful for the support of the New Zealand Government and supporters worldwide. With ongoing care these sites will stand for current and future generations,”said Nigel Watson, Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Executive Director
Antarctic Heritage Trust has returned a carefully reconstructed beer barrel to the Antarctic hut that was home to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s historic ‘Nimrod’ expedition in 1908.
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds is also where the Trust found three crates of Mackinlay’s whisky encased in ice; a discovery that attracted global attention.
Credit: Kinsey, Joseph James (Sir), 1852-1936. Photographs relating to Antarctica and mountaineering. Ref: PA1-o-464-17. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica 1907-1909
The barrel of beer was originally donated to Shackleton by New Zealand brewer Speight’s in 1907. Its iron hoops and staves were pulled out of Pony Lake, alongside the Cape Royds hut, by caretakers in the 1970s.
Credit: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, with permission
A sledge party from the Nimrod Expeditition team unload beer from the ship to the hut
The Trust’s Programme Manager-Artefacts Lizzie Meek says the barrel pieces were left near the hut and remained there, embedded in ice, for decades.When the Trust started major conservation work at the site in 2005, the staves and hoops were leaned up against an area adjacent to the latrine and the pony stables.“The Trust spent four years conserving the hut, finishing in 2008. During that project, we saw some of the staves half buried in the ice and put a plan in place to excavate and conserve them.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica.
“It took some time but we managed to get them back to New Zealand in 2016. One of the staves has a bunghole and is engraved with the words ‘Speight’s’ and ‘Dunedin’ so we knew it was a beer barrel from the brewery.”
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The barrel bunghole on one of the recovered staves is engraved with the words ‘Speight’s’ and ‘Dunedin’.
Once in New Zealand, the barrel underwent a detailed examination by the Trust’s conservators in a laboratory at Canterbury Museum. “The iron hoops were too badly corroded to be used to reconstruct the barrel but many of the staves were in suitable condition,” says Lizzie Meek. AHT then connected with one of New Zealand’s only practising coopers, Jurgen Voigtlander, and worked with him to re-build the Speight’s barrel. The Trust was grateful to Speight’s Dunedin for supplying some staves for the reconstruction of the barrel.
Great Scott PR
One of New Zealand’s only practising coopers, Jurgen Voigtlander, re-built the Speight’s barrel
“Jurgen established a repair strategy after a lot of research and trial assembly. It wasn’t an easy job given that, over the years, the original staves had lost some of their curvature and were heavily eroded. But Jurgen painstakingly rebuilt the barrel, using traditional techniques, the original staves, new iron and some new wooden elements. We were delighted with the result.”AHT paid for the conservation of the barrel and it was taken back to site with logistics support from Antarctica New Zealand.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The Speight’s barrel was carefully positioned outside Shackleton’s hut by the Trust’s conservation team.
The Cape Royds hut sits in an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) which means permits are required to remove anything from the area and anything temporarily removed has to be returned.
Returning the barrel to Antarctica
Transporting the barrel back to its home at Cape Royds held a few challenges. Logistics between Christchurch and Antarctica are operated by the United States and New Zealand Antarctic Programmes. The first stage of the journey was packing it for transit from Christchurch to Phoenix runway in McMurdo Sound on board an American C-17. A large Antarctic storm cycle caused a 2-week delay to the start of the summer on-ice season, preventing aircraft from landing and causing the Trust some anxiety, as staff and cargo were waiting in Christchurch. However, the system caught up and both barrel and staff arrived in Antarctica in time for the next stage of the journey. Once at Scott Base, the barrel was gradually exposed to lower temperatures, eventually being stored (wrapped) outside at ambient temperatures of around -15 degrees C. The distance between Scott Base and Cape Royds is a little under 40km, and the terrain is a mix of the lower slopes of the active volcano Mt Erebus, and frozen sea ice. The barrel was transported to a ridgeline near Shackleton’s historic hut using a container slung underneath a Southern Lakes helicopter. From the top of the ridge, the AHT team transferred the barrel to a polypropylene sled and towed it down the hill to its final resting place outside Shackleton’s Nimrod hut.
Mike Gillies
Shackleton’s Nimrod Hut, Cape Royds
This area and adjacent areas were used by Shackleton’s expedition to stage/store all sorts of equipment, food cases and barrels. There was a constant ebb and flow of different items. The barrel is too large to fit comfortably inside the hut, and like the stores boxes also found outside the hut, forms part of the story of the enormous quantity of supplies needed for an over-wintering party of 15 men, as well as dogs, ponies and a motor car.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
The Speight’s barrel is now in position outside Shackleton’s Hut.
Trust Executive Director Nigel Watson says it was a poignant moment to see the barrel be returned there.“Just as when we returned Shackleton’s whisky to the ice, there was some celebration at the barrel’s return. Conserving Antarctic artefacts is an incredibly meticulous process so it’s always satisfying to see them put back with a new lease on life that will see them survive for generations to come,” concludes Nigel.
What happened to the beer?
Beer will freeze if left outside on all but the warmest of Antarctic summer days, and in fact the beer may even have been consumed during a special occasion on the ship (SS Nimrod) and the barrel re-purposed for another use. We have not yet found a record that detailed, but some records indicate that the tragic accident where Captain Aeneas Mackintosh lost an eye, was caused when a hook carrying up a barrel of beer from the Nimrod’s hold, sprang loose and hit him in the head.
Antarctic Heritage Trust
Shackleton’s hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica.
The barrel location provides shelter from the two prevailing winds at the site (north and south winds), which lowers the damage caused by wind and ice erosion, and protects the barrel from being moved by the stronger gusts during storms.Part of the work the Trust carries out on an annual basis is snow removal, monitoring and maintenance of all aspects of the building and artefact collection. Over the next few years we will be checking the barrel on each visit, and will keep an eye on its condition.
