The Merrick Mountains

There is no reference to sex here, I'm just pulling your chain.

These mountains are at 75.2 degrees South, 72 degrees West in Antarctica. They are named after my Dad: Conrad G. Merrick. He is the only guy I have ever met that has a mountain range named after him. He was the navigator/topographer on the 1961-1962 Antarctic Peninsula Traverse. This was before GPS and he used a theodolite for star shots in order to determine position. The black Sno-Cats were flown out in C-130's. They explored an area that had only been flown over before they went.
Scan of a portion of a map showing some of their route and the Merrick Mountains: 1:500,000 sketchmap, 163 kb .

If you have old National Geographic magazines you can find his picture on page 290 of the February, 1963 issue. He's the one standing in the door of the Sno-Cat.

If you are interested in learning about Antarctic flight, good places to start are:

"Robert Holmes' webpage".

"The unofficial VXE-6 webpage".

Email me if you have questions comments or corrections [email protected]

Return to Dan Merrick's Table of Contents .

Click on the picture
	Dad
	I got this one from Morag Hunter who writes: Dear Dan I have attached a photo of my sledge party (on the right, 5 small dots) arriving at Sky Blu (hut and tents are blobs on the left) which is the British Antarctic Surveys blue ice runway. The Merrick Mountains are at the top of the photo. I actually visited the mountains two years ago but this photo is taken from the end of our season this year. I really like it cos it shows the scale of the mountains. They are about 25 km to the south, the photo is taken from a mountain that sits behind the runway.
	An aerial view.
	Surveying on the sea ice at McMurdo
	RD4 or "Super DC-3" 99853 Big photo of this one with numbers Visit this plane's webpage at: http://www.centercomp.com/cgi-bin/dc3/gallery?5003
	P2 140436 a patrol aircraft used for aerial photography. Mount Erebus, an active volcano, in the background. Check out http://www.vpnavy.com/ The P3 Orion is the current Navy subchaser.
	C124 Globemaster 21077. Dad flew down from New Zealand in this one.
	Dehavilland U-1B Otter 144674. find out where this plane is now here.
	Huey, Must be one of the first since they only came out in 61
	Attaching JATO (Jet Assisted Take-Off) bottles to a P2.
	Loading a Sno-Cat into a C130 (148319) Hercules for the flight out. Large photo with tail numbers
	Jones Mountains and an older Sno-Cat from the previous season. This Sno-Cat was gasoline driven and the others diesel. This one was later abandoned on the ice. The box with ice on top is a portable outhouse.
	Ski-equipped C130 (148318) Hercules takes off. I think this is the Jones Mountains in Ellsworth Land. Large photo with tail number
	Penguins, no tail numbers
	Seal
	Starting point of the expedition in the Jones Mountains
	Loading diesel fuel into the huge tires of the "rolly-trailer."
	The fuel drops into a crevasse.
	The would-be-rescuers drop into a crevasse.
	Surveying the damage.
	Home: a Sno-Cat with the cook wanigan behind.
	The Merrick Mountains or near to.
	A wind storm.
	After the storm, time to dig out.
	The whole expedition
	The Ellsworth Mountains from Ski-Hi or Eights Station. Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica is there somewhere.
	I think this is Zeke Sosa
	I don't know who this is but it is a nice photo. I'll have to ask Dad.
	The only interior photo we have. A black and white polaroid taken on Christmas 1961.

"Images copyright © Conrad George Merrick, All rights reserved."

Return to Dan Merrick's Table of Contents .