Vostok traverse
The Vostok Traverse was a crossing of the Antarctic in the summer of 1962/63 by an Australian ANARE team, which covered 3,000 kilometers in four months. Two red M29 Weasel tracked vehicles , built in 1943, and two D4 Caterpillar tractors from 1950 were used. The six members of the expedition started on September 17, 1962 from Wilkes Station on the coast and traveled to the Soviet Vostok Station deep inside the Antarctic . Much of the journey was through previously unexplored territory. The weasels and tractors were extremely fuel-consuming, so the USAP had to dump fuel.
The navigation through the empty landscape was made possible by a weasel driving at the top, which was equipped with a compass that was suspended from an aluminum frame in front of the vehicle. This prevented the steel of the vehicle from obscuring the naturally weak magnetic field near the pole. The lead vehicle left bamboo posts every four kilometers so the other vehicles could easily follow.
When the team arrived at Vostok station on November 18, 1962 , the Russians had evacuated the station twelve months earlier with such haste that half-cooked food was still to be found. The generators started up and the frozen steaks were finished cooking. On November 25th they started their way back, which ended on January 14th.