Wild
David
David
12.10.1965.
David (Dai) Wild was a surveyor from St Asaph in North Wales based at Halley Bay 1963 - 1965. He was killed in a crevasse accident with Jeremy Bailey and John Wilson 14 October1965 passing the Milorgknausane nunataks near Pyramid Rocks, Tottanfjella in the Norwegian sector.
Ten men travelled to Pyramid Rocks during September where they spit into four groups. One group, Dai Wild, Jeremy Bailey, John Wilson and Ian Ross, travelled westward with one tractor and one dog team in order to lay a depot near the Milorgknausane nunataks for use by later explorers of the Vestfjella. The journey gave an opportunity for Jeremy Bailey to use the newly developed ice-depth radar to map the contours of the rocks far below. They were travelling late in the evening on the second evening with low drifting snow when the tractor slipped backwards into a deep crevasse. Ian Ross who was not in the cab at the time was the only survivor.
The nunataks were renamed by the Norwegian Authorities as Mannefallknausane and a Wildskorvene was a geographical feature names after Dai Wild.
You can read Sir Vivian Fuchs' account of the accident in an extract from Of Ice and Men.
Derek Bartley, a life long friend of the family, who climbed with Dai, his girl friend Barbara Williams and his parents Peter and Muriel Wild has written of his memories here.
The photograph below shows the expedition members at Pyramid Rocks shortly before they split into four groups. They are from the left Rod Rhys Jones, Doug Beebe, Tony Haines, Dai Wild, Lewis Juckes, Jeremy Bailey, Ian Ross, Geoff Lovegrove, Brian Porter, and John Wilson.The aerials on the cab were part of the ice depth radar equipment devised by Jeremy Bailey to map the contours of the mountains beneath the ice.
The photograph below shows Dai at the bar on a Saturday night in the common room at Halley Bay in 196. From the left: Harry Rogers, Cook; Dai Wild, Tony Baker, Chippy; Ian Ross, Geologist; John Duff, Meteorologist; Brian Armstrong, Physicist; Rab Reid, Diesel Mechanic.
Ten men travelled to Pyramid Rocks during September where they spit into four groups. One group, Dai Wild, Jeremy Bailey, John Wilson and Ian Ross, travelled westward with one tractor and one dog team in order to lay a depot near the Milorgknausane nunataks for use by later explorers of the Vestfjella. The journey gave an opportunity for Jeremy Bailey to use the newly developed ice-depth radar to map the contours of the rocks far below. They were travelling late in the evening on the second evening with low drifting snow when the tractor slipped backwards into a deep crevasse. Ian Ross who was not in the cab at the time was the only survivor.
The nunataks were renamed by the Norwegian Authorities as Mannefallknausane and a Wildskorvene was a geographical feature names after Dai Wild.
You can read Sir Vivian Fuchs' account of the accident in an extract from Of Ice and Men.
Derek Bartley, a life long friend of the family, who climbed with Dai, his girl friend Barbara Williams and his parents Peter and Muriel Wild has written of his memories here.
The photograph below shows the expedition members at Pyramid Rocks shortly before they split into four groups. They are from the left Rod Rhys Jones, Doug Beebe, Tony Haines, Dai Wild, Lewis Juckes, Jeremy Bailey, Ian Ross, Geoff Lovegrove, Brian Porter, and John Wilson.The aerials on the cab were part of the ice depth radar equipment devised by Jeremy Bailey to map the contours of the mountains beneath the ice.
The photograph below shows Dai at the bar on a Saturday night in the common room at Halley Bay in 196. From the left: Harry Rogers, Cook; Dai Wild, Tony Baker, Chippy; Ian Ross, Geologist; John Duff, Meteorologist; Brian Armstrong, Physicist; Rab Reid, Diesel Mechanic.
Family's archive photos
