Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
220
Figure S.17. harriet stands
on thin ice at the foot of
Queer Mountain, minutes
before her accidental
plunge.
Later in the season we were dropped at Vanda Station, while the helicopter
flew off to move another field party. Vanda Station had been built by New
Zealand in 1967-1968 and had been operated continuously during the summer
seasons, along with several years in the early 1970s when it had been staffed
through the winter. Those who ran the station had started the Vanda Swim Club,
which had gained considerable notoriety at the bases on Ross Island. Three rules
governed induction into the club: a completely naked plunge into the frigid water
that circled Lake Vanda in late December and January; total immersion; and
witness by one of the “Vandals,” or station personnel. That season the rules had
been relaxed to allow some sort of footwear, since too many initiates had come
out of the numbing waters with bleeding feet.
harriet was keen to take a second plunge, so she stripped to her bunny boots
and made her way to the shore wrapped in her parka. She was only the second
female that season to join the club, and every Vandal on site turned out to wit-
ness the induction. Without hesitation, harriet burst from her parka and charged
into the water. When she was about thigh-deep, she threw herself under, with
a rebound that gave the impression of a salmon leaping out a rushing waterfall
(Fig. S.18). She intoned a cry somewhere between a scream and a gasp, and
charged back up the bank to where I was holding her parka. after we retreated to
the warmth of the station for tea and scones, everyone agreed that she had met
the criteria splendidly, and I watched proudly as harriet inscribed her name in the
register.
 
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