Vanda Station party after winter: Bill, Simon, Al, Warren and Ron (PHOTO: Allan Guard)
The western Wright Valley including Lake Vanda viewed from near Bull Pass. The Asgard Range lies at left and the Dais is just beyond the west end of the lake (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Simon looks across Lake Vanda toward Vanda Station (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
The last helicopter for the season lands at the helipad, 21 February. The fuel depot and the Vanda outhouse are in the foreground and Mount Odin dominates the background (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Winching the tractor up a navigable portion of the edge of the Wright Lower Glacier on the second attempt to reach the Bay of Sails, 16 March (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Ice inside the entrance door to the main hut. Note the telephone mounted on the wall to the left. (PHOTO: Supplied)
Vanda Station after light snowfall. Buildings (from left to right): main hut, food hut and laboratory. The meteorological mast is in the foreground, with Mount Fleming on the horizon and the shadowy slopes of the Olympus Range to the right (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Bill warms the tractor’s oil sump with the Herman Nelson heater in preparation for starting (PHOTO: Supplied)
Simon drills the lake surface with the Cipre drill (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Simon in the laboratory reviewing his seismic chart. From left to right: an ice drill, an Anchor milk can, the Sony radio, and an assemblage of recorders and instruments (PHOTO: Supplied)
Al in the laboratory reviews the record from the Mount Odin wind station (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Ice accumulation under Bill’s bunk in the main hut (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Warren chips and removes ice accumulated at floor level from inside near the entrance of the main hut (PHOTO: Bill Lucy)
Al at the east wind station checks the bearings and alignment of the windvane (PHOTO: Supplied)
Keep In A Cool Place: The First Winter at Vanda Station, Antarctica (PHOTO: Supplied)
Temperatures dropping to minus 57 degrees, 16 weeks of darkness, isolation stretching to eight months and logistical challenges...
That's what five scientists faced during the first winter at New Zealand's Vanda Station in Antarctica in 1969.
On the shore of Lake Vanda in the Dry Valleys, the group were investigating the strangely snowless landscape, and why the lake, while covered in metres of ice, had waters reaching 25 degrees at the bottom of the lake.
It was a remarkable expedition, not just for its scientific contributions, but for the limited supplies and extreme conditions they endured.
Kathryn speaks to two of the group; Al Riordan and Simon Cutfield, who have written a book of their experience; Keep in a Cool Place: The First Winter at Vanda Station, Antarctica.
