.
1/4/14, “French Polar Chief slams SpiritofMawson fiasco,“ joannenova.com.au
"From Skynews. The
French chief of polar science calls the Spirit of Mawson trip
“pseudo-scientific” and laments the effect it is having on real
research....
"He said the trip itself was a ‘pseudo-scientific expedition’ that, because it had run into difficulties, had drained resources from the French, Chinese and Australian scientific missions in Antarctica.""...
===================
Among comments to JoanneNova post is a former Antarctic guide who says ‘fast ice’ and other risks are well known:
===================
“
Actually if you open the brochure you will see that “Voyages to Commonwealth Bay have scheduled departures in 2011, and January 2012.” This was the last season any commercial tourist voyage attempted to reach Commonwealth Bay (I was guide/lecturer on one of them, and we didn’t make it) because it is virtually impossible to get 50 people to Mawson’s huts due to the fast ice extending 50+km from shore, and the extreme instability of sea ice in the area. These were the ‘risks’ Turney knew about, but he took them anyway!
And one thing I am sure of; if Greg Mortimer so called ‘co-leader’,
veteran of many visits to Antarctic, (and on Skokallskiy itself which
his company Aurora Expeditions used to charter) had been in charge of
running this trip as a purely tourist venture, the ship would never have
become beset. Tourism operators have the safety of their clients as their number one priority; and the schedule of future voyages as their second concern. Spare a thought for those passengers who will miss out on their long planned trip to Antarctica, due to depart NZ on Shokalskiy on 17 January. There is no way Shokalskiy can make it in time – so there goes another insurance claim to be laid at the door, properly, of Turney’s AAE.”
==========================
1/4/14, “Polar chief slams Antarctic cruise,” skynews.com.au
.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)