Jökull - 01.12.2006, Page 84

J. D. Ives
Figure 4. Ian and Tony at the Ice Camp north of Miðfellstindur on 6 August, 1953, shortly before their departure
for Öræfajökull. This was the last time they were seen. – Ian og Tony við tjaldbúðir norður af Miðfellstindi
þann 6. ágúst 1953, stuttu áður en þeir lögðu í sína hinstu för á Öræfajökul. Photo/Ljósm. Jim Exley.
son, the park superintendent, was vacationing with his
family at the time. Fortunately, Matthew Roberts was
staying at the park. He also realized the significance
of the discovery and, since he had been in close con-
tact with me for some time, accepted the responsi-
bility for informing me and asking if I could make
a definite identification. He sent me a number of pho-
tographs by electronic attachment and assured me that
a further visit to the discovery site was being planned.
He and three others accompanied Eyjólfur and Alex
to the site the following Sunday (9 July, 2006).
There followed a painstaking task of collecting,
mapping, cataloguing, and photographing and pre-
serving what eventually amounted to more than 150
pieces. They included broken tent poles, pieces of tent
fabric and clothing, a paraffin stove, crampons, bro-
ken skis, a crushed aluminium water flask, two pocket
knives, remnants of a small sledge, and pieces of an
air mattress. Matthew forwarded to me electronically
an additional set of photographs of the items recov-
ered together with the map reproduced here as Fig. 1.
By telephone and e-mail discussion Matthew and
I quickly came to the following conclusion: the equip-
ment, without a doubt, represented the remains of that
taken by Ian and Tony on their fateful journey from
the Ice Camp to Öræfajökull in August 1953. Perhaps
the most significant elements were the trade names of
the air mattress (Li-Lo) and the paraffin stove (it was
a one-pint ‘Burmos’ stove that had been the standard
Nottingham expedition issue). I had probably used
both items while staying at the Ice Camp in July 1953.
But even without these specific pieces, practically all
the recognizable items were familiar to me and there
was no single piece that was exotic or ‘out-of-place’.
82 JÖKULL No. 56, 2006