Patrick Ross McShane (24/9/1941-24/9/2023)

A Memorable Mawson 1961 Field Trip, by Rowan Butler

Ross, Rowan and five others were on a tractor train trip out of Mawson to Mt Twintop in August 1981 when we discovered for ourselves why there’s a dogleg in the marked track between the David and Masson Ranges – there’s a crevasse field in the direct route! Knowing that others had taken this shortcut the previous summer we headed across it but when a dozer opened up a small slot, we made a careful retreat.

However, a dozer towing fuel sleds crossed a hidden crevasse and weakened the snow bridge and two of the fuel sleds it was towing broke through, lodging on a lower snow bridge about seven metres down. The weather then changed to a blizz which buried sleds and drums in drift. The blizz over we roped up, went into the hole, dug them out and winched them to the surface. The lesson learned of course was stick to the marked track!