No Life Guard On Duty

Okay I have been really bad about updating this blog, but I hope to be a little better as the next few weeks will get exciting. First off, I have not made it to A-Gap yet, but I hear that we may fly tomorrow, this means I'll start the drugs tonight. The past week was laid back. A couple good gatherings and some fun movies, but nothing over the top.

I did manage to go swimming last week. We are not suppose to do this, but I just had to. I was out helping take down the penguin ranch since the sea ice is starting to melt. We were taking a brake when I noticed these great holes (that were used by the penguins) just sitting there only being used by seals. So I talked Meghan into jointing me for a little swim. We stripped down to our underwear, tied a rope around our waist, and jumped in. I have to say, this water was very cold about 29F. After I got in, these two guys helping break down wanted to pull me out, but my head had not gone under yet. So I sucked in and went down. When I came up, they pulled me out. The rest of the day was fun with salt water soaking into the cuts on my legs from the sides of the hole.

On the way into town, we saw Shuttle Joe stuck at the transition (land to sea) in Ivan the Terra Bus. Meghan tried to push him out, but no luck (little joke). With the warm weather, the roads are starting to melt away.

This weekend was the Women's Soiree. It was a ton of fun with live music, skits, poems... I tried taking pictures, but it was to dark and the flash didn't work at the distance. However the picture above is of everyone waiting to get in.

Have a great week and thank you John, Lynne, Linda, Dad, Brian, Kimmy, and Ella for the X-mas presents, it is killing me not to open them. I did send stuff off in the mail, but we'll see how long it takes to get them back home.

Coach or Cargo

Sorry no pictures for this post. I just wanted to tell everyone about operation Tiger Strike. This is a mission to put in a field camp at high altitude. Next week team 1 will fly to A-Gap on a LC-130, land for an hour, set up a tent and return home. Day two, team two (that's me) will also fly to A-Gap and set up half of a more complicated tent. Since we will run low on fuel, we will fly to the pole to get more gas to return back to MCM. I guess this is the first of this type of mission and there is finally a real sense of danger. They will have us all on high altitude drugs to prevent us from getting sick. They will carry O2 for us and one person is dedicated to just watching over the others. If someone does get sick, they mission is aborted and we leave immediately.

This is going to be true Antarctica and I'm looking forward to the risk associated with the adventure. This week we were had a safety meeting and did a few dry runs of the tent setup. During the safety meeting we were told everything would be fine if we do things right. However if we mess up, we would be coming back in cargo instead of coach (a little humor). I'm hoping I'll get some good pictures, but with the nature of the work and the temperature, I'm not sure I'll be able to. There is a lot of talk around town about this project and some think it is foolish while others think it will be a piece of cake. Who knows, but I'll get paid for an 11 hour day to work for an hour :)

Nothing But Fun And Games

Okay, I haven't sent any post cards out yet, but I am over half way done filling them in and each one has a personal (not a form) note. I hope to get them in the mail before the end of this week so they make it back by X-mas. I've spent about an hour the past few nights working on them.

Last Friday I woke up to see it snowing out. It is amazing that for a place covered in snow, it doesn't really snow all that often. I was headed out to LDB (a site about 8 miles from town), so I made snow angels as I waited for the bus.

I worked with Ann out at LDB until about 1pm when the bus came to pick up all the beakers (scientists). The weather forecast said there was going to change to condition 1 (really bad weather), so everyone wanted to get back to town before the weather hit. In condition 1 all travel is prohibited. Well Ann, Ben, and I stayed out at LDB and risked the weather that never came. At one point Ann (who skied to the South Pole back in the early 90's) asked Ben and I to "test" all the snowmobiles out. Boy it was hard work, but someone had to do it.

Friday night I was able to get on a boondoggle out to Cape Evans. This is the site that both Scott and Shackleton have used. The last historical event there was captured in one of the books I read, Shackleton's Forgotten Men. It was really cool to step into history like this. I could feel the events of the story I had read. Another way of describing it is to imagine what it would be like to walk through the halls of Hogwarts (yeah, that cool).
On the way there, we spotted three Adelie Penguins sitting next to the road. We all got out of the Delta (our big bus like thing) and took pictures of the funny looking birds. After about 10 minutes we decided to get back into the warmth of the delta and head on. Well the funny little birds immediately wanted to become friendly and came running after us. So everyone stopped, dropped to their knees and stomachs, and the little birds ran up to us and did all kinds of cute things so we could take pictures. After another 10min they got bored with us and decided to move along.

Inside the Hut there was all kinds of things left behind by Shackleton's crew.

Saturday was a fun filled day with FSTP. We "had" to go out to the pressure ridges in front of Scott Base (Kiwi Base) to flag a safe route around the ridges for snowmobiles. While we were out there we saw Fleet Ops moving all the airfield buildings from the ice runway out to Willey Field. It's amazing that in one day they can move a whole airport. Just after leaving the pressure ridges, Thai and I had an interesting moment on the Sea Ice. I was ridding behind him in the trailer when we suddenly stopped with a big crash. We had fallen through a melt pool. Water forms on top of the ice and then freezes. Then after the top freezes the water drained out leaving a nice hidden hole for us to zoom over. Well, I guess I've been eating too much food down here because it was the trailer, not the snowmobile that fell through. However by the time we were done messing around with it, everything had fallen in and it took a lot of time and muscle to pull it out (it was fun though).

After flagging, we headed out to Turtle rock to profile a crack. I mentioned back when I first got hear how to profile a crack, but it involved us drilling five holes across the cracked area. We go down 1 meter at a time adding another flight to the drill as we go. You can see in the picture Matt with the drill and Erebus in the background. In the center of the crack we hit water at 4meters. Yes, that is a lot of ice and it was safe for us to be out there. We ended up coming home on a rarely traveled land route which added much excitement to the day.

Sunday, a day of rest (yeah right). I woke up and headed to church. Church here is kind of fun and it's a nice way to start the day. After church I ate brunch and got ready for the big race. This was a Cyclo-cross race. Rec (department) just got a bunch of new bikes and what a great way to break them in then by racing them. To make it more fun, we had to dress up in funny costumes.

The course was short, but we had to run to the chapel and back, carry our bikes over steps, bike to the top of a hill, do push ups, then the fun part. Just before the end of the course, there was a flight of stairs. Rec suggested that we walk our bikes down the stairs as they egged us on to ride it. Well I made it safely down the stairs but not everyone did. This is a great pictures I got off the I:Drive.

Here is a picture of a seal I saw today out at the penguin ranch with an Antarctic Tooth Fish. It was in one of the dive holes in a hut. Just coming up to say hi, take a breath of air, and show us his fish.

Alright, time for me to get back to the postcards!

Turkey Day

The past few days have been very busy so I haven't had a chance to update the blog. I hope some of this is interesting and before I forget, happy Turkey Day!

One day last week I worked with Kevin the electrician. Kevin was in my deployment group, so I got to know him quite well. This coming weekend they will be closing the ice runway so Kevin has been tasked with setting up the runway lights for Willey Field. Willey Field is named after a US Navy man who went through the ice just off Ross Island back in 1956 when they started building the station here. This airfield sits idle during the summer while the ice runway is used because the ice runway is about a mile from town and only takes a couple minutes to get to. Willey on the other hand is ~8 miles away and takes about 20-30 minutes to get to depending on the weather. Other than distance, the other major difference between the two airfields is Willey Sits on the 200M thick ice shelf while the ice runway sits on the 3M thick sea ice that melts away each year.

On Friday I was lucky enough to head out to the sea ice with FSTP (Field Safety Training Program) people to help establish a route to Turtle Rock and re-route the Cape Evans Road around a crack forming in the sea ice. The first stop revealed a bunch more seals (this place is about a mile from Hutton Cliffs where I was earlier). I saw a mother with twins which is very rare. The sad news is that there is a good chance one or both of the pups won't make it. The mother just can't produce enough milk to feed them both. However they were still very cute.

This day was very surreal, I left town on a a snowmobile with Susan towing a trailer in front of me. I looked up to see two helicopters flying over our heads and as I looked back forward, I could see Mt Erebus (our active volcano) smoking away. On the way out, Susan pulled the trailer with our survival gear and work equipment in it. However after it came detached the second time, I stopped with it as she kept going. After waiting a few minutes for her to return, I hooked it up to my sled and caught back up. In the long run, it made work much easier having the trailer behind me.

Typically we only have Sunday off, but because of the holiday, we also had Saturday off. I got up early so that I would be prepared for the Turkey Trot. This is a 5K (3.2M) race from the chapel out to the ice runway and back. We were told that the first 50 finishers would get a free t-shirt. I wanted to be one of the lucky few. I haven't run in years so it was very tough for me. However I busted my but and finished in the mid 30's out of 20+ runners and got my T-shirt. I guess I worked harder than I had to. This is a picture of my friends Gretchen and Sarah who also ran.

The T-Day feast was amazing. I even got my own drumstick! I think I ate too much, but Turkey Day only comes once a year. Before dinner I signed up to Adopt a DA (Dinning Attendant) for 1.5 hours. This meant that someone who had to work could take some time off as I covered for them. Every Sunday I volunteer scrubbing pots so I was an old pro at the job and they liked having someone there that could coach the other volunteers. By the end of the meal, there was a standing ovation for the kitchen crew and the wonderful meal they had prepared. It was an inspiring moment that made me feel very proud to be part of this community.

After dinner, I had a little too much fun, but that story has been saved for email. However that night while at Gallagher's, I ran into a couple Red Sox fans.

I ended the weekend with a nice solo hike of the Scott Hut Ridge. This is one of the few hikes you can do solo. It was a nice day and I needed to do a little physical and mental recovery.

So far there is nothing exciting coming up in the near future, but this is good since it will give me a chance to find a job once my contract is up.

Penguin Pictures For Ian

The past few days have been packed full of fun. Saturday night the Shuttles group went on a boondoggle (fun trip) to Cape Evans, so me and two other GAs covered for them. I was "Shuttle Ops" also known as dispatch. It was fun to sit in the shuttle shack with them in the morning to learn how to do the job. There are a lot of cute shuttle drivers and for some reason they seem to like me. After an uneventful evening covering for shuttles, I headed to see the bands play at Gallagher's (non-smoking bar). It was a ton of fun but the night ended with a little too much drama for me (Adult material best suited for email).
I woke up early Sunday morning and went to church. I have to say it was a nice service and it helped me start the day off right. After church I headed to brunch and then filed my "e-foot plan" with the fire department. In order to travel off station I must first file a plan letting them know where I'm headed, when I'll be back (ETR), a point of contact, and who else is going (no solo trips). We also had to carry a radio with us just in case something were to happen. Myself, Eric (roommate), and Bill decided to go sledding down the Castle Rock loop trail. One issue with this is that we don't have any sleds, but we discovered that cafeteria trays work just as well. The loop is about an 8 mile hike but we also made a quick detour up Castle Rock which was amazing. My camera died at the start of the hike but Bill is suppose to send me some good photos. The ride down was a great rush and my butt was very sore. It was a perfect day with no wind and a hot sun. When we got back, we ate dinner on our same trays before I volunteered in the Galley's Pot room scrubbing pots.

Monday turned out to be a great day too with a short trip on the sea ice with the Piston Bully, and then shoveling at the Aquarium. I got a quick tour of what was in the tanks and it made me feel like a scientist again.

Today however was an amazing day. Everyone else on our team was out of town at cool places and Tirzah and I felt a little left out. Then Barb (supervisor) let us know we were headed to Hutton Cliffs (seal hangout) and the Penguin Ranch.

Hutton Cliffs was first on the list to re-fuel so after 1.5 hr down the Cape Evans trail, we turned onto the un-tracked flagged route to Hutton Cliffs for half an hour. With the flat light, driving was a little tricky going through the pressure ridges. A couple times I was going a little too fast for the light and we slammed down off some of the cracks in the ice. The picture above is of the field camp and the vehicle to the right is the Piston Bully I was driving.

After we arrived we filled the fuel tanks and then begged the scientists there to take us on a walking tour. There were so many seals. And it was incredible to see how they interacted and called out when their mom's went fishing. We saw many pups (baby seals) and even some old males. One male was recently in a fight and had an eye hanging out (sorry no pictures). Shortly after the pups are born, they weigh 150lbs and will stay with their moms until they are a couple months old. A full grown adult male can weigh 1,200lbs.

Some of the pups put on quite the show for us!

Next it was off to the Penguin Ranch. Well Ian and Cavan O'Brien, here are your Penguin Pictures.

Here, scientist go out and collect Emperor Penguins from the Ice Edge and bring them to this "ranch." Here there are only two holes cut in the ice for them to come in and out of the water (this keeps them in the area). Around the holes is a small pen. When Penguins are on "land" they tend to wander a long ways and the fence keeps them in the study area. The researchers then observe the penguins and their feeding habits. An observation tube is inserted into the ice just outside the pen to observe the penguins feeding under the ice. I wanted to go in the tube, but they were busy filming the mid afternoon "diving" session. It's a long story, but some of their behavior was a little sad since it reminded me of a zoo.

A few great days in a row! As always, I'm still very happy to be here and am still waiting for the novelty of this place to wear off, if it wears off. Cheers!

Life at WAIS

I think it was said best that our monotony is someone else's adventure. Each day was filled with shoveling snow, putting up rac tents, eating, and playing cards. To us, this was just a typical day, but to everyone back home this was an adventure (you seem to lose that every now and then).

Evening entertainment typically involved playing cards after eating a huge meal. I learned how to play Cribbage, Pitch, and Rummy. I have to say, Pitch was the hardest to learn, but I had the most fun with.

One day we decided that we were going to have a day off and that it would be nice to give the cooks a day of rest. Tirzah and I (the two GAs) volunteered to play cooks for the day. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be to feed 21 people three meals. The highlights of the day included making "Magic" bars and a sheet cake that was the map of the camp. People really appreciated it, but working 12 hrs on your day off can take its toll on you.

On thing that was fun to do was to have races when you couldn't see the horizon. You didn't race to any point in particular, but with no reference point, and and not seeing contour with the flat light, you would run until there was only one person standing. This picture shows how white things can be. One night I tried talking Tirzah into a race which she declined, moments later I stepped off the 2 foot snow drift next to the outhouse and landed flat on my face. She reported, "I win."

One of my favorite parts of camp life was the outhouse. Under each little shack was a 5-7 foot hole dug into the snow and ice. After someone used the outhouse, their droppings would freeze. At some point in the future someone else would use it and their droppings would land on top of the first and freeze. After this is repeated for a week or two, you have a 5 foot poopsicle (edited for younger viewers) coming up from the floor (I wanted to take a picture, but never did). After these stalagmites get too tall, they take the poopstick (also edited for younger viewers) and knock it over. The other fun part of the outhouses was the poems and fun puns. Some of my favorite puns were "WAIS'ed away again in Margaritaville", "We have a WAIS to go", "These are the WAIS of our lives"...

Each morning after donning our ECW to leave our tent, I would dump my pee bottle at the yellow flag and then return to my tent and dig it out before heading to breakfast. Some mornings, my tent was really buried from the drifting snow.

One interesting part of camp life was the freezer cave. This is were all the frozen food is kept. The cave was fully stocked from last year and was full of wonderful food including ribs, stake, seafood... I had to dig open the door a couple times to help pull food for the galley. By the time I left, the Carps (Carpenters) were building an extension to the door to help prevent it from being buried by drifting snow.

Life at WAIS was full of hard work, that was instantly rewarded by a spectacular view and great company (picture below of Andy and Andy our Fulies). I don't have pictures, but we were even visited by three birds while I was there. I guess this is normal, but remember that available food is 200 miles away.

I'll add more on this wonderful topic of WAIS when I get a chance. I let you know about the science that will happen there and about how to build a rac tent.

Drifting

I am back in town and I have a lot to share. If the first day in Antarctica was the best day of my life, then I knew things could only get worst from there. Well I was wrong, I now have a new best day of my life and that started when the skis of the LC-130 touched down on the landing strip at WAIS camp.

On Thursday the first of November we boarded our aircraft and left for our remote field camp. Our flight took approximately 3hrs during which I got to ride in the cockpit and see the vast sea of ice below. One of the highlights of the flight was when the load master took out a box labeled "explosives" and started fiddling with some dynamite looking things. I asked the other GIB (Guy In Back: National Guard people that don't ride in the cockpit) what he was doing. I was informed that they were the igniters for the JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off). Since this was the first LC-130 flight into WAIS this year, they weren't sure the runway was going to be good enough to take off again. So four rockets were mounted to each side of the back of the plane. If the pilot didn't get enough speed to get the nose up, he would hit the switch and these eight rockets would kick to life and push the plane into the air. After landing I waited in anticipation as the plane tried to take off, but unfortunately, they made it on their second try without the JATO.

Just before landing we were informed that the weather at WAIS was marginal and that if two landing attempts where unsuccessful, we would divert to Pole. Well, we made it and it was an amazing experience. To unload the three pallets of cargo, the pilot did a drift offload also known as a combat offload. After opening the rear door, the load master pushes the ramp pallet out the back, a lever is then pulled which releases the next two pallets as the pilot hits the throttle. The pallets slide out the back and land on the runway to be picked up later. You have to check out the cool video below, it starts with the pull of the lever.

I can't describe it all, but when we got there, there were two heated modules still stuck in the winter berm (the man made elevated platform where they store everything for the winter) that had been opened by the six person crew that arrived the week before. After our arrival, the population doubled to 15.
The second morning there, we woke up in our tents to a horrible storm (Gramma, you may not want to read this next part). The wind was so strong I thought my tent was going to blow away with me in it. After getting on all of my ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear, I dug out the snow in my vestibule to my tent, and met the other campers at the outhouse. The tenting site was about an 8 minute walk down a flagged route to the winter berm (safety of heated buildings and food). The walk was a little sketchy as we went flag to flag following the route. Each flag is 15 steps apart except for at the end where someone pulled a couple flags to use for another project. Here the last two flags were about 25 steps apart. The wind and snow was so bad that we all stopped at the second to last flag wondering where the next one was. I have to say, it was really cool to see the power of such a storm. Below is a common rainbow seen around the sun almost daily. The background is the winter berm and the new cargo line created from the cargo removed from the berm the week before.

That is all I have for tonight, but I'll try to keep updating on my WAIS trip. As far as news goes, I received my guitar in the mail and it is better than I could have dreamed. However, Dad and Linda, the package you sent is still not here (there is no rhyme nor reason as to which mail gets here first).


To Be Continued...