Lookin' out my backdoor: August 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Back on the Ice

On July 31, I left Kwajalein, Marshall Islands, Micronesia. On August 24, I landed at Pegasus Runway, McMurdo Station, Antarctica. In between I went through Honolulu, Johnstown and Denver. Wonder how many frequent flier miles I have ? So here I am, back in Antarctica. It was around -30 when we arrived. Yesterday morning, Aug. 29, it was up to a balmy -7. Pretty good for this neighborhood, this time of year. Today I didn't check the temperature, but it's definitely blustery out there. There were about 150 people that wintered over. Some left, but the majority didn't. Another 300+ of us just dropped in on them. Quite a shock to the system, I'm sure. I haven't counted how many, but there are a lot of faces I recognize from my trips to Pole and Palmer. Can't put names to all of them. It seems pretty common to see someone, recognize them, speak your name and then say something like, "Oh yeah, '05 - '06 at Pole! What are you doing this time?" And all in all, everyone is pretty congenial - even if the winterovers are a little 'toasted'. We're constantly meeting new folks, even if I can't remember all the names. There are five electricians left from the winter and four of us FNG's (as in F....... New Guys). Those of us that just got here spent several days in Denver for orientation and training. So far down here, we've had a couple more orientation and training sessions, primarily, how to recreate outdoors without dieing and how to drive a jacked-up, always-in-four-wheel-drive pickup with oversize tires in/on snow and ice. Upcoming training includes how to wear a safety harness in construction, how to live out of a tent on the harshest continent and the dangers of working on the sea ice and how to avoid/survive them. I've been teamed up with one of the winterovers, Chad, who's getting me familiar with the station while we work on small projects and repairs. Not too much work outside - yet. This time of year is called the Winfly season, as in Winter Fly-in. The last of the passenger flights was Friday. There won't be anymore - other than one cargo flight - until early October. Most of us were brought in to begin getting ready for the 'main body' that's coming. At the height of summer, that main body will number about 1,200 people running around. That doesn't include all the Polies passing through and I'm not sure whether that includes the people who go to the field camps. After 15 months of shorts and t-shirts, now I'm wandering around in about 15 pounds of coat, bibs, boots and miscellaneous clothing. It takes some getting used to. Also after 15 months of the food on Kwaj, this stuff is lookin' pretty good. Maybe not as good as Pole was, but still, pretty good. They've got me hooked just with the fresh bread and baked goods at every meal. Despite the clothing weight and the cold temps, I'll need to begin working out again and be very careful about my intake. I may have put on a pound or two already. Here at McTown, there is a lot of demand for, and not a lot of accessibility to, Internet connections. For the time being, I'm checking my email at the public kiosk or on one of the shop computers. For the blog, I expect I'll bring my computer here to the shop and plug in on a Sunday morning as I am now. So . . . here we go again . . . a new job . . . a somewhat new place . . . new scenery and new photos. Time will tell what else will be new . . . . Later . . . .

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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?