Happy Freakin' Camper

Current Temp Ambient:   14    Windchill:      7
Windspeed (knots):            4
Next Sunset:                      Feb 16 2012

For today's entry you get to hear all about my recent "Happy" Camper experience.  Happy Camper is an overnight snow school/survival course that everyone who is going out to the field is required to endure.  I took Happy Camper my first season, and after that we are just required to do a 4 hour lecture "push" or refresher course...unless you have been out of the program for 5+ years.  Yours truly falls into that 5+ years out of the program category, so I couldn't get away with just the push course.  Trust me, I tried!

Truth be told, I learned a lot in Happy Camper the first time around, things that have helped me enjoy regular camping and outdoor winter activities much more than I had in the past.  If nothing else, I learned this time around that I indeed retained that valuable knowledge.  Here are a few things I re-tained/learned:

1. Cotton is soft and lovely against your skin, like the 780 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets that I ordered on August 3rd and have yet to receive, for example.  But in the cold, especially if you are active, cotton is your enemy. Because it retains moisture, your sweat creates a nice cooling layer right against your skin.  This can lead to discomfort at best and hypothermia at worst.  So remember folks, go poly or wool.  Silk is better than cotton, but not by much in extreme cold.  
2. Don't be a complete idiot when your life is at risk.  Stop, take your time, and think about how to get yourself to safety as quickly as possible.  Think about the resources you have at your disposal and use them wisely.  Consult others in your group for good ideas and expertise.
3. Camping in the cold sucks and I have no idea why anyone would willingly do that to themselves.
4. Group scenario activities are a drag.
5. Just because someone has a Ph.D doesn't necessarily mean they have any common sense or will be useful in a crisis situation.  Trust the electrician.

Anyway, we got really lucky on the weather, so I actually had a great time shovelling, making snow blocks for our wall that we used to block the non-existent wind, melting snow to make water, and being in an absolutely beautiful place.

Here is a pic of where we were on the ice shefl, that's Mt. Erebus, our 12k ft volcano:

Here I am with Mt. Erebus in the background, proof that I was there:

This is the snow wall we built by sawing blocks out of the show on the ice shelf, popping them out with a shovel, and stacking them to about 3/4 the height of our mountaineering tents.  It took is several hours to get this done, there were 20 of us:

Here is the dining room (which, BTW, I designed, thank you very much, coming soon to Interior Designer's  Digest) and we all built together out of the remnants of our ice wall block quarry, complete with centerpiece flags and a sculpture that Justin made.  Notice the U shaped bench and the table in the middle where we ate our delicious MREs for dinner:

That is about it, I'll post more pics if anything awesome shows up from the other folks in the group.

Zisman warm, inside and OUT

Fishin' Antarctica Style

Current Temp Ambient:      18      Windchill:      5
Windspeed (knots):              14
Sunrise:                                Negatory
Sunset:                                 Nope

A friend of mind down here is a scientist working on a fish project.  Yesterday she ran into some scuba divers who offered to film her fishing from under the ice.  The video shows an number of interesting things:

  a) she needs to work on her technique;
  b) the absolute clarity of the water down here;
  c) the diverse and dense wildlife in the Ross Sea; and
  d) the Sea Ice from underneath.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5PDgCgX0AoY

Enjoy!

Dumb asses

Current Temp Ambient:  23    Windchill:   9
Windspeed (knots):    13
Sunrise:                      N/A
Sunset:                       N/A

Not the most polite blog title perhaps, but do consider the source.

Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the first successful expedition to the South Pole.  Though Robert Falcon Scott is perhaps most well known (because he died and had a more dramatic trip), he actually led the second expedition to reach the South Pole.  He was beaten by about 5 weeks by a Norwegian, Roald Amunsden.   He was beaten in more ways that one; not only did Amunsden get there first, he also made it back and lived to tell the story.  Some say Scott was greedy, took too many men for his provisions, and refused to dump any of his samples.  So he schlepped rocks around and as a result, suffered what must have been an awful, horrible, slow, painful death, as did his men.

There are lots and lots of books available on the subject of the OAEs (Old Antarctic Explorers), if you are interested, a simple Google search will yield a ton of results, especially with the 100th anniversary upon us.  Personally, I liked Shackleton's Endurance, but there are many, many others that I'm sure are great.

This anniversary is expected to bring the dumb asses out in droves.  Why do I call them "dumb asses" and not "adventurers" or "heroes," you ask?  Because this is Antarctica.  The harshest continent on the planet.  Unprepared, ignorant people die here trying to do things like ski to the South Pole.  It reminds me of those who try to climb Mount Everest and require Sherpas and oxygen tanks, which they often leave behind, cluttering the very natural wonder they risk their lives to see with trash and bodies.  You simply cannot "conquer" a mountain, or the most extreme place on earth.  Treat it with some respect, put together a plan, gather some useful information, spend lots of time acclimating, and sure, go for it without my harsh judgement.  Unfortunately, more often than not, well...dumb asses.

Last year some Norwegians died trying to be mavericks and do it their own way http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4720296/Search-for-Berserk-suspended).  They loaded their boat up with ATVs and all sorts of unnecessary gear.  Of course my heart goes out to their friends and family, but people who take stupid risks and take their own lives into their hands also risk the lives of would-be rescuers.

McMurdo has already seen the first of what is expected to be many dumb asses this year.  Three Brits were dropped of at the ice edge and spotted yesterday dragging their equipment directly over our fuel lines.  So while trying to "conquer" this natural wonder, they put this beautiful, nearly pristine place at great risk of a hazardous waste nightmare by skiing directly over fuel lines.  Luckily our fuels department is top notch and nothing bad happened.  Yet.  They are on skis.  I wish them all a safe and successful, well planned, respectful trip, I really do.

I'm not optimistic.

Dumb asses.

SEALS

Current Temp Ambient:     14        Windchill:     3
Windspeed (knots):            6
Sunrise:                             irrelevant
Sunset                               irrelevant

Finally some early summer action with seals!  Yesterday on our way out to the Ice Runway a young seal was in the road, poor thing seemed lost and confused and should have been with it's mother.  We had a big 2 day snow storm, it must have lost it's hole.  By the time I came back from the runway, it was gone so hopefully it got back where it needed to be.  the first video is that young seal and a stupid man who was WAY too close.  You can sort of hear me trying to politely tell him to back the hell off.

The second video is from my coworker Ricky who went Ice Fishing with a scientist yesterday and they had a visit from a seal.  They come up to breathe and can then stay underwater for around 30 minutes to fish!

Pretty cool!

Mini-series

Current Temp Ambient:  -11  Windchill:   -40
Windspeed (knots):    23


No more sunrise or sunset, we are at 24 hours of sun in the sky.  Today we are on day 2 of a big storm, so I can only assume the sun is up there somewhere.

Populate is overwhelming, soon lots of people will leave town for the South Pole, field camps, and other bases, so I'm looking forward to the storm clearing up and a few hundred people clearing out!

A woman who is down here now has put this mini-series together, start from Episode 1 and you will get a great idea of what our life is like.

Enjoy!
http://nbtvtoday.com/nbtv-abroad/antarctica-the-harsh-continent/ep-1-the-beginning-of-a-long-journey