‘Madigans Nunatak’ is a small rocky outcrop sticking up through the Antarctic Ice Plateau, about 70km south east of Mawson’s Huts.
Since Mawson’s men discovered it in 1912, it had only been visited by helicopter and the food and cash left there by those men had never been found.
Don decided to sledge there from Cape Denison, so he and Margie sailed south on a Russian ship assisting The Mawson’s Huts Foundation conservation team.
Occupying ‘Gadget Hut’ once again for six weeks as a base, Margie and he set out on the walk.
After just nine days, they returned to Gadget Hut having aborted the attempt. They became tent bound in a massive blizzard on the plateau. While crossing heavily crevassed areas, they broke through on a few occasions. Don decided that pulling a sled was not fun!