Argentina’s Ventimiglia Hut on Peter I Øy

The barely known history of an Argentine Antarctic shelter, the Teniente Luis Oscar Ventimiglia Hut, installed by the Argentine Antarctic Institute on Peter I Øy (Peter I Island) in March 1971 has been reported on some dedicated articles from which, WAP has taken an abstract.

In examining the history of the only Argentine Antarctic facility outside of the Argentine Antarctic Sector, this article describes the reasons behind the establishment of the Hut and the scientific work that took place there as well as previous Argentine expeditions to Peter 1st.

On 3 March 1971 a group of scientists from the IAA inaugurated   the   Teniente   (Lieutenant) Luis Oscar Ventimiglia Hut on Peter I Øy (Peter I Island). This became  the  most  remote  Argentine shelter  in Antarctica.  Peter I Øy is to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula, whereas the majority of Argentine stations are located on the western coast of the peninsula and islands located to its west: Carlini WAP ARG-2Ø (at the time known as Jubany), San Martín WAP ARG-Ø8, Melchior WAP ARG-13, Cámara WAP ARG-16, Brown WAP ARG-Ø2 and Decepción WAP ARG-12.

On 29 April 1964, the Antarctic Naval Group conducted a study to investigate the possibilities for establishing a Weather Sation on Peter I. In 1964 a complete survey of the island was undertaken and in early February 1965, the icebreaker ARA General San Martín headed towards Peter I Øy. Instructions were to conduct a general reconnaissance of the area and to determine the limits of the sea ice, anchoring areas, disembarkation points as well as potential helicopter and DHC-2 Beaver airplane landing sites.
By mid-February 1971 the icebreaker ARA General San Martín, left Ushuaia for the fourth stage of its annual voyages, with nine people on board specifically for the mission to Peter I Øy. On March 2nd  at 16:00, a first flight was performer with a Navy Aviation Alouette III S-31 helicopter with the director on the IAA, Guillermo Mackinlay, and the Antarctic commander, Captain Roberto Ulloa, on board. During that dangerous flight, under whiteout conditions, landing at Evaodden (Eva Cape) was made possible by the use of coloured smoke grenades to visualize  the  ground.  Once  on  land,  Mackinlay expressed his profound happiness, claiming to have been waiting 18 years for that moment since the first conceived plan onboard the ARA Bahía Buen Suceso in 1953.
The same day, three hours after of the first flight,  an Argentine Air Force UH-1H Huey helicopter transported scientists and logistics personnel, camp equipment and the prefabricated shelter. The group undertook several scientific studies and established a camp (marked with a red spot in the map below), in the vicinity of Evaodden (Eva Camp WAP NOR-Ø8), some 500 m from the coast, south-east of Tvistein Pillars. The men began to assemble the shelter and, the following day, the seven members from the DNA-IAA and the two from the SMN were taken to the site, where they carried out a series of scientific measurements. Among the activities was the exact determination of the coordinates of the island, possibly motivated by a report by the IAA glaciologist César A. Lisignoli dated 31 August 1970, in which he stated that its geographical position was not well determined on account of different positions given by previous expeditions (Lisignoli 1970). A few metres from the camp that had been established, upon a visit from Mackinlay and Ulloa, the shelter was inaugurated with the name Teniente Luis Oscar Ventimiglia at 68°42’South, 90° 36’East.
The Hut was a prefabricated model similar to others set up in the 1970s by Argentina in Antarctica. Its rectangular base was nearly square (2.36 × 2.46 m), with the front and back panels slightly longer than the sides. There was a door at the front, which faced east, and each of its shorter sides had a small window. Because of the difficulties encountered, including  challenging weather and terrain conditions, the original idea of maintaining a regular summer crew at Ventimiglia Hut was discarded. Additionally, the particular meteorological conditions of the island proved that a Station established there would not improve weather forecasting for the Antarctic Peninsula area, so the main purpose for the establishment of the hut was considered no longer valid. For these reasons the final report of the Antarctic Naval Force recommended not returning to Peter I Øy and to abandon the Hut

Thanks and Cedit to: Pablo Gabriel Fontana and  Instituto Antártico Argentino, Buenos Aires.

Read the full article at: View of A hut too far: history of the Argentine Ventimiglia shelter on Peter I Øy (polarresearch.net)

Later attempts to find the hut failed, but given the conditions at the site where it was established, it is assumed that the hut became buried in the snow, collapsed and was lost to the sea. (Report dated 2018).

As far as we know,  no HF amateur radio activities have ever been carried out from  Teniente Luis Ventimiglia Hut at that time and considering the fact that no more signs of the hut has remained on the site, WAP is still evaluating if adding it on the WAP-WADA Directory or not.