Winter Trip No 1 – Tuesday

And this is Hangover Buttress.

When we woke up on Tuesday morning, the weather was too bad in order to go out to do anything. So, the only option was lie up again ... So, we spend the time reading and playing UNO.

At around 12pm the weather lightened up a bit and we were able to get out (yippie!). We went to Hangover Buttress to do some climbing. The actual route we did was called Scratchpad (a Grade 2 ice climb) which was about 90m long.

Way to go!

After parking the skidoos at the feet of the mountain, we first walked up a snow slope. The whole thing was about ½ ice and ½ snow climb. We quickly turned around at the top as it started crapping out again - blowing snow into our faces as we abseiled down. The drive back was quite interesting too as the contrast was not quite as good anymore and on top of that my skidoo helmet (very much like a motorcycle helmet) kept fogging up. After a while that fog started sticking to

Nice view for now.

the visor and it got quite icy (joys of Antarctica)...

When we go out on winter trips the skidoos are connected to each other in case one of them falls through a crevasse (we clip ourselves onto the skidoos). The field assistant drives in the front – next comes a sledge with luggage – another line and then my skidoo – and the last thing is another sledge connected to my

Skidoos and sledges looking tiny.

skidoo (mostly 15m lines between every link). When we go to different sites from our campsite, we still have to take the sledges with emergency kit (in case the weather gets so bad that we cannot get back to the campsite or the skidoo break down or similar).

and than the weather crapped out ...

When we left from Hangover Buttress, the first bit was relatively steep (for me ...) downhill and my sledge ended up overtaking me which was quite funny... We got back at around 5pm and had pasties for dinner. Bucko and Rose were on scheds talking to us about our day. We went over to others for the evening. At

Swinging the axes.

12am we were still over there. Nightwatch has to sit and listen to the radio at 12am, 3am and 6am every night when people are out on

winter trips in case there is an emergency and they are trying to get into contact (we also take Sat phones on the trips, which we would use first to contact anyone). It was quite common for people on wintertrips to contact Nightwatch at 12am just for fun (obviously not pretending that there is

Exausted but happy :)

something wrong, but just to say hi). We played Nightwatch a nice little song but did not really get an answer ;)

Winter Trip No 1 – Monday

Digging the hole for the tent.

Finally the day has come to leave for my winter trip. The excitement is roughly at least as high as before Christmas when I was a little kid. We left base around 8am. Poor Malcy (the field assistant who took my out on my trip) pulled a sledge 1/3 of the way up the ramp until Steve (another field assistant) picked us up on the skidoo.

For about 9 weeks, 4 people are always gone from base. 2 field assistants take one person each out for a week to camp in the middle of nowhere, go climbing, mountaineering and sightseeing. It was amazing to get a week off base and to properly experience Antarctica. The tents and equipment has not changed much since Scott, however, the survival rate is significantly higher...

We drove across the traverse to the caboose and had to repack the sledges to get the last bit of kit on them. We originally wanted to get through the pass to get to the other side of the island. It requires very good weather to drive through the pass which has got mountains on either side as there are lot of crevasses on the way which are not very safe to drive over. Bad weather means bad visibility/contrast which means that the crevasses are not easily spotted.

Tent going up.

So, we ended up putting our camp up at Trident East. Often (but not always) the two couples camp at the same location which is quite nice as we can get together in the evenings. A tent here is not as easily put up as one back at home on grass. First we had to dig out a square for it in which we put the tent up. The flaps on the outsides (called skirt I think) are covered with snow to prevent the tent from being blown away if the wind picks up. On the inside we have got several layers on the floor to keep the cold out. The stove and boxes with food go in between the two occupants. Last but not least the radio has to be set up with which we talk to base every night at 7pm. For the rest of the day we had lie up (meaning that the weather was not good enough to go on adventures). For dinner we had Pasta Bolognese. On scheds (that is the 7pm radio chat) we had Issy and Mike who talked to us (general chat of what we did, what happened on base, some news from the world and the weather forecast after which we tell them our plans for the next day). Afterwards, Tom (our Communication Manager) and Steve (one of our lovely field assistants) came for a visit.

Travel arrangement for the week.

Now, everyone might (or might not) have the burning question of what to do when bodily functions require attention! For this reason, a poo tent is being put up (another orange tent with a bucket). However, we are not allowed to pee into the bucket (much easier for guys than for girls I guess ...). Peeing outside is quite cold though in the old fashioned girlie way. Hence, she-wees were invented (absolutely brilliant once you get the hang of it!). I will spare you going into too much detail here of how they work but it basically is a highly engineered funnel. If more details are required, I am sure google can help! 

Doc School 1

During winter our Doc (Rose) is running a series of sessions with various topics which aids our training as Medical Assistants. The first session was about poking people with needles: how to administer intravenous fluids. Our Doc put some local anaesthetics in so that it would not hurt as much. We had quite a few people running around with bruises on their arms afterwards! Unfortunately, I chickened out from poking someone with a needle – maybe next time...

Weekend fun

Saturday 09/03/2013

In the morning we had Winterers training again. We learned all we needed to know about food hygiene, so we are able to cook for other people in the kitchen. We also strapped a stretcher to a sledge in case of an emergency. Last but not least we were introduced to the BA (Breathing Apparatus) kit so we can enter a smoky building and rescue casualties. Just like diving, but upright and the cylinder valves on the bottom rather than on the top. Bel and I searched for the casualties together which got filled with artificial smoke doing a little BA kit dance (moving arm and legs holding onto each other so we would not walk into anything and would not lose each other either). The casualty hid underneath stuff, so he had to move that we could actually find him! Fun morning was followed by a trip to Stork Bowl; an amazing place for skiing which is outside the recreational area. Where else can one go skiing with a view onto the sea! Best of all it was an absolutely dingel day (BAS term for beautifully blue sky)! The trip ended with us tumbling down the sides of Stork Bowl (on purpose and safely of course). The whole day was than rounded off with a 70s themed evening (amazing food, good costumes, good music and a drink or two).

Sunday 10/03/2013

View partially up Leonie
before it clouded over.

Lagoon with the hut on the left
and Leonie in the background.

Fortunately, the weather was dingel again and we left early-ish for Leonie (one of the islands within the boating limit). One group got dropped off on the snow slope side and walked up to the peak, whereas we climbed the rocky side. The hardest bit for me was the sleety bit in the beginning and on the top (I guess the slight hangover did not help either), but climbing the actual pitches was amazing. By the time we got to the top, clouds surrounded the summit and we weren’t actually able to see anything. However, the way up was amazing, especially as the rock got warmed up by the sun and we did not have to wear any gloves. Late afternoon, we got picked up again by the boat and went to Lagoon (another small island with a hut on). 6 of us (Bel – Marine Biologist, Mairi – former Marine Assistant, Tim – former Boating Officer, Scott – former Field Assistant, Malcy – Field Assistant) stayed there over night. We slept outside for the whole night. After searching for mites the next morning, we returned to base.

Inside the hut.

Crevassing

Last night I finally managed to climb down a crevasse. We went up the ramp after dinner and walked along the traverse for a bit. The anker was already set up from the day before. The ropes were quickly attached and the first person was lowered down. After lowering down, the rope system had to be changed over to a pulley system which aided getting the climber back up. With swinging ice axes, everyone made it back up. As it got later in the evening, the moon started coming up over the mountains (I could swear it looks bigger here in Antarctica than at home). When it was my turn to go down I managed to end up head first in the hole. However, I was not allowed to continue head first (what a shame, I am sure it would have been so much fun) ... It was absolutely beautiful down there. I can’t wait to go down into bigger ones where you can actually walk in. Climbing back out was good fun too. Luckily I practiced last week some ice climbing and managed to get back out, more or rather less graceful. Amazing evening, followed by one of the best night sleeps I have had in ages ;)

P.S.: Just click on the pictures to make them bigger!

Everyone is involved when people are lowered down and brought back up. A pully system is installed to make it easier.

View of the base. Nearly no snow left there ...

View into the bay with lots of icebergs floating around.

Being lowered into the crevasse. The picture is taken just after I was head first. (Photo: Tristan Biggs)

Inside the crevasse.

Pictures just don't capture it properly ...

View up from inside the crevasse. Amazing blue colours!

Coming back out with the help of ice axes and lots of people pulling! (Photo: Tristan Biggs)