Winter @ 66° South: Sled haul to Wilkes Station

The abandoned Wilkes Station lies to the north of Casey on the Clark Peninsula. Origainally set up by the US Government, it was handed over to the Australian Government in 1959. More on the history of Casey Station here...http://winterat66south.blogspot.com.au/p/abou-casey-station.html
On the Saturday before Easter four of us set out to walk over to the old Station. We walked out along the A-line and then cut across below the Loken Moraines from waypoint A-05 directly to W-02 (check out the Windmill Islands Map 1 of 5 Click Here), keeping clear of the crevasse zone around the coast line. This is one of the few areas where we are approved to deviate from the cane lines and go 'cross country'. We had originally intended to ski this route, but high winds in the preceeding days had scoured all of the snow from the surface leaving the blue ice well and truely exposed.
The winds picked up along the way and it felt colder and colder, despite walking along at a cracking pace and hauling our survial packs. I was wishing that I had on thicker pants as my butt and legs were freezing!
Our survival packs - containing the same contents that I used to sleep out under the stars in my bivvy a few weeks ago - are required to be carried when we embark on any travel outside of Station limits. They have everything that we should need should we be required to go to ground in bad weather or an emergency. On this day, rather than carry our packs, we elected to drag them along in sleds.

Unfortunately on account of my hands also being freezing i didn't take too many pictures enroute. Despite wearing liner gloves and thick work gloves my fingers were going numb, so I graduated to mittens, and was not interested in unwrapping my fingers to play with my camera!
Once we arrived at the hut, we were met by the trusty Blue Hagglunds which had driven out to drop off a few guys spending the night at the Wilkes Hilton. We piled in and hitched a ride back to Station, stopping to snap a few photos along the way, and made it back in time for a hot shower, dinner and a few drinks. I can't wait to get back out to Wilkes to explore the area and embark on a Wilkes photo mission, from the warmth of the hut!