The Vostok traverse was a 3000 kilometre four-month trip across

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

undertaken by

ANARE The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE ) is the historical name for the Australia: Antarctic Program#Australian Antarctic program, Australian Antarctic Program (AAp) administered for Australia by the Australian Antarctic D ...

the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1962. Using two bright red painted 1943

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

M29 Weasel The M29 Weasel is a World War II tracked vehicle designed for operation in snow. Built by Studebaker, Weasels were also used in sandy, muddy, and desert terrains, including towing loads over terrain wheeled vehicles could not negotiate as in the ...

tracked vehicles and two 1950 D4

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tractors the 6-man expedition left Wilkes Base on the coast for the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Vostok Station Vostok Station (russian: :ru:Восток (антарктическая станция), ста́нция Восто́к, translit=stántsiya Vostók, , meaning "Station East") is a Russian Research stations in Antarctica, research station in ...

deep in the Antarctic interior. Much of the journey was over previously unexplored territory. The Weasels achieved 2 miles to the gallon and the tractors one mile per gallon, so a fuel dump was requested from the American

McMurdo Station McMurdo Station is a United States Antarctic research station on the south tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the Unit ...

. Navigating across the featureless landscape was accomplished by a lead Weasel fitted with a Pioneer

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with ...

suspended in front of the vehicle on an aluminium frame. This was done to prevent the steel of the vehicle swamping the weak natural magnetic field close to the pole. The lead Weasel had two

oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) * Oblique angle, in geometry *Oblique triangle, in geometry *Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...

mirrors, one in front of the driver facing upwards and the other positioned above the first and facing downwards and backwards. By keeping a bead on the following vehicles and the bamboo guide posts left at two and a half mile intervals, it was found the vehicles could keep a very straight path. When they arrived they found the Russians had evacuated the station 12 months beforehand in such haste that food had been left half cooked on the stove. The generators were started up and the snap-frozen steaks were finished and eaten by the team. The trip ranks as one of

's most historic traverses.

References

Antarctic expeditions 1962 in science 1962 in Antarctica Australia and the Antarctic Australia–Soviet Union relations {{Antarctica-stub