Lookin' out my backdoor: March 2010

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Winter and the Second Half

Sometime in the last 24 hours, I passed the half way point in this trip. It's been 209 days since I got here and there are 207 until the last day of my contract, Oct. 15. Not that I've been counting . . . there are computer programs that take care of such things. A lot has happened since I last wrote. The supply ship, the Arctic Tern, has come and gone. That's the Tern on the left. The Odin, a Swedish icebreaker that opened the channel, hung around to make sure it stayed open. Then it headed out for a scientific research project on the way back to Sweden.

A lot of extra folks were around to unload the Tern. There was some affiliation with the Navy because enlisted Naval personnel were in charge. With a large contingent of young people, working 12 hours on,12 hours off and nothing else to do, the store did not sell any alcohol and the bars were closed. It must work: I believe a record was set unloading the ship in less than three days.

Of course, the ship doesn't go home empty. All the trash and recyclables plus material and equipment that will be sold off back in the States had to be loaded. That went well also. But . . . flight schedules to get people off the Ice are made well in advance. So all those young folks had a day or two with REALLY nothing to do. The store opened for beer sales which lasted a couple hours before it sold out. I think the bars opened, too. I didn't hear of any catastrophes.

Looking back, it was positively balmy then. Temperatures were above freezing, although there were very windy days. The result was more open water than most people had seen in ten years. From time to time there were whales surfacing and spouting. I never saw any orca killer whales, but there were a number of Minkes.

Since the weather was so nice, I hiked up to Castle Rock with Jeremiah, the project plumbing foreman. Up is the operative term. It's a fairly steep climb out of town. Then it's up hill for over a mile, into the wind the whole time. Before you even crest, Castle Rock comes in sight. Beyond was the volcano, Mount Erebus. All in all, it's about four miles round trip.

That was a nice day and we had a few more, but it didn't take long for temperatures to drop. This reading is from Feb. 5. The open water didn't last long either. You can see that in the panorama at the bottom of the page taken a week or two ago. About the time the ship left, so did the majority of the population. One week we were at over 1,100 people. A week later we were under 300. On Mar. 5, the an Airbus dropped off about 20 more souls for the winter and took 80-some folks out. Barring an emergency, that's the last flight until the end of August. I'm here with 197 of my closest friends. Once a month, we get a two-day weekend. Some calculation or Antarctic voodoo incantation determined it would be the weekend following the third full week. That would be this weekend and It's been busy. Friday night, the Carp(enter) shop and Team Heat Trace (that would be us) threw a BYOB party in the Carp shop. Over the years, many festivities have been held there. A stage is set up for live music (two bands this season). An elevated dance floor covers a large table saw. Seems to be the norm here that all parties must have a barbecue and this was no exception. The Carp shop does work setting up the field camps for the scientists. Scientists, field camps at least, get a better grade of meat than folks in town. The Carps get the season's leftovers. We had fillets and even a little venison. I made it until about 11PM. One of the band members said he got home at 3AM. Yesterday the Vehicle Maintenance Facility, aka Heavy Shop, held a horseshoe tournament. BYOB, again. 64 people showed up to participate with a few more just coming for the entertainment. There was plenty. Horseshoes bouncing off concrete, careening out of a metal enclosure or just tossed errantly kept everyone on their toes - literally. No injuries. It started at 1 PM and ran until about 8 - or so I'm told. Partners were by blind draw and it was double elimination. I didn't mind the first loss to a couple guys who outscored us about 2 -1. However,in the second game, a young lady claimed she only played once before. She scored one point in her first match. Against my partner and I, she scored over 10 points, including two ringers and a leaner that took out a closest-to-the-pin of mine. Yeah, only once before . . . Last night there was a St. Patrick's Day Party at Gallagher's bar. Didn't make that one. This morning, Gallagher's was a burrito bar with bloody Marys and mimosas. Had brunch there. Those bloody Marys would have been great with oysters . . . but that will wait for another time. Actually, there have been quite a few after-work activities. We've had one bingo night and one trivia night. Volleyball and basketball in the gym are on a regular weekly basis. Someone seems to be leading yoga almost nightly. Busy place around here. That should make time go quickly for the next 207 days. Speaking of time, it's about time I finished this up and got ready for tomorrow. I can hear the wind howling outside. Unfortunately for Team Heat Trace, there is next to no indoor work. Until next month - maybe . . .

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Daily news and announcements

Sometimes temperatures were listed. The season high of 23 above zero was reached while I was in camp. Since our internet connection was so slow, other important information such as the latest NFL results were posted. Educational improvement was provided by a daily word picked at random from a collection submitted by the camp population. The individual who picked the word had to use it in a sentence. This day's word was fugly. Trust me, that was an easy and relatively . . . innocent one.

Sleeping quarters

Unlike some of the other field camps, these Artic Oven tents were provided to each of us. They are quite a step up from the backpacking tents. At about 6 or 7 feet square and 5 feet high in the center, they are almost roomy. Add a folding cot and a wool blanket for a rug. I saw a couple small shelving units in one and another flamingo outside the door. One fellow had a portable solar panel charging unit hung on the side of his. I didn't see a TV antennae, however. You have to take into consideration, this was home for almost three months for some of these folks. Pretty plush for a deep field camp in Antarctica - even if the temperature was sometimes zero or lower when we were climbing into our sleeping bags.

The cores are kept in storage until there are enough to fill a cargo pallet like the one at the end of the room. The pallet is loaded on a C-130 as close to take-off as possible. The plane is actually cooled as low as possible for the flight. There is a cooler to store cores at McMurdo. From there they are loaded in a refrigerator van and onto the cargo ship. A refrigeration tech goes with them on the trip to California where they will be shipped by truck to the Denver Federal Center. The tech told me that in the past they had used two trucks, just in case one broke down. This trip there will be a truck with two separate refrigeration units in case one fails. There are over 40 projects examining the ice. Some of it is kept in cold storage in Denver as an archive.

McTown and the off-load

Don't ask me to translate McMurdoese - instead of unloading the ship, it's an off load. Instead of setting up and tearing down a camp, it's put in and take-out. Whatever, the ship is at the pier. It's been unloaded and they are slowly getting it reloaded with waste, wornout vehicles, helicopters for the out-going contractor, and - the ice cores. With a little luck, a lot more hard work and good weather, they should be in Denver within a month or so. I had a day off and it was (obviously) beautiful. I hadn't hiked up Ob Hill in a few seasons, so I climbed up and took this picture. After I got down, I remembered why I don't do that more often. Gettin' older ain't for sissies.

"How long does it take?"

From time to time, people have asked me how long it takes to get here. This time I kept track. As it so happens, I think this was the fewest flights I've ever had. For one thing, a stop for a few days of orientation in Denver has been eliminated - unfortunately. Also, in the past when we flew to Sydney, we went to Auckland, NZ and then to Christchurch. And I actually flew from Johnstown instead of Pittsburgh but that didn't eliminate a flight, just cut down on travel time. Here's the breakdown -

I left about 9:30 AM, Sept. 28
Johnstown to Dulles, about 1 hour.
Dulles to Los Angeles, about 5 hours.
Los Angeles to Sydney, about 14 hours.
Sydney to Christchurch, about 5 hours.
Christchurch to McMurdo, about 5 hours.

Including layovers, 31 hours to Sydney, 38 to Christchurch.

We arrived in Christchurch in the afternoon. The next day we received our extreme cold weather gear and sat through some orientation lectures. the next morning we took off for McMurdo about 9AM.

The total from Johnstown to McMurdo was about 80 hours.

A Solid Foundation

These are the footer pads, posts and beams that the floor sections were put on. The pads are 36" squares of 2X6's enclosed in 3/4" plywood. It was all two of us wanted to move them. The posts are sections of 12x12. The beams are 4X8's. It was all bolted together with 1/4" steel angle brackets and 1x2" x 6" lag bolts driven in with impact guns. The floor sections were 2x6's on 12" centers with 3/4" plywood top and bottom. All this for a 12' by 16' shack to house a generator that probably doesn't weight more than 1,000 lbs. Now that's some heavy duty construction.

Seal

On the way back from Canadian, we came across the desicated remains of a sizeable seal. It was the third we found between camp and the Canadian Glacier. There was at the edge of Lake Fryxell and another very close to the side of the glacier. This is miles and miles from McMurdo Sound. No one seems to have an explanation although there is a rumor that when the Navy was running this show, the helo crews might have been having some fun with the scientists by planting these. they went to a lot of trouble if that's the case. And if not, again, why are these seals up here?