A dance with the demons, penguins and other stuff

It seems like winter started last weekend when I camped in an igloo as the following week was windy and bitterly cold especially this last weekend. I woke up Sunday morning freezing as the dorm boiler (heating) wasn't functioning properly. It was pretty miserable in the room so I quickly dressed and went to the gym where it is always warm. The mid-winter run scheduled for Sunday morning was postponed Saturday afternoon due to the first major Antarctic storm of the season. Saturday evening the winds really picked up and the windchill temperature quickly dropped to the -50's. Everyone's plans quickly changed to staying in their dorms after dinner. Several of us watched the recent film "The Thing" a prequel made for John Carpenter's 1982 "The Thing". Even though much of it was filmed in Antarctica (like the original) we all laughed at the discrepancies from the real Antarctica - for example the film showed a real night and day.

It was a good call to postpone the run as the wind was blowing 30-40 with larger gusts bringing the temperature down in the -60's. It made for a very quiet Sunday. The Ross Island Yacht Club of Antarctica met for the monthly meeting even though the building we met in was cold. We enjoyed a course on charts then had pizza and beer while telling sea stories - my kind of meeting. After a dinner of pan seared mahi it was off to the Coffee House Theater for the McMurdo Science Theater 3000. Even that was cold as the Coffee House heater wasn't working either. The coffee bar (my Sunday night hot chocolate hangout) wasn't open due to frozen pipes. So I was bundled up in bed before 9 for what I thought would be a long rest.

Not more than ten minutes later a page came about an "environmental alarm" up the hill at the 10 meter antenna. So I dressed in everything I had including my Frankenstein boots (or as popularly called "Herman Munster" boots) and met my co-worker. We were able to reach the radome with the van although it was a very hazardous drive as the snow was blowing hard. We did keep in contact with the firehouse for safety purposes. The main power feed to the building and antenna was down with the some of the equipment on UPS - battery backup. And of course the heater wasn't working and the inside temp was in the 40's. We then called out the electricians and linesmen as we knew it was going to be a long night for repairs. One of our feeder lines was down and power was restored three hours later. Our van wouldn't move (vehicles here are always kept running or plugged in) so we called the firehouse and were soon picked up.

Back at work we discovered that we could not control the antenna so we "borrowed" another van and went back up the hill to work the issue. The weather was worse as we had to fight the wind and cold to move around to the different work areas. I was thrown to the ground a few times and it was extremely difficult to get back up so I just crawled. What's funny was after just watching "The Thing" I thought I was in the movie except there was no monster chasing me! But I'm sure there is a "Thing" out there somewhere.

Sunday night and into Monday afternoon we made 5 trips up the hill but still could not solve the issue. I finally got a few hours sleep last night and was in again at midnight (Tuesday) to work the issues with the California vendor. We are waiting for the results of our troubleshooting from the vendor for the next step. It is going to be a long week. I have never been so cold for so long and it really does hurt.

The station Manager sent out this email (in response to weather related issues):

Bringing it

All

Unless you live under a rock (or an ice block), everyone should know by now we have been experiencing a number of issues since yesterday afternoon.  Many of the issues have been resolved, though some are still being worked on.  It will probably be another day or so at least until all systems are back in normal operation.

As always, these issues don’t go away on their own; they go away because someone came out of their comfortable room or walked away from their favorite activity to engage in the challenge.  The fact it also entailed a dance with the demons in the wee hours of the morning was just another detail to these people.  

So once again, I am reminded of the dedication of our community to each other and the ‘town’ when the chips are down.

Thank you.

 

 At Cape Crozier on the the opposite side of Ross Island the male  Emperor penguins are sitting on eggs for two months in the dead of winter. The females are out gathering food and will return when the chicks are hatched. It is fascinating that the male penguin can stand in one place and incubate an egg with no nourishment  for two months during the brutal winter.

A friend sent me this from a previous party. I posted the video a few weeks ago.

I really missed Tropical Storm Beryl's Brevard County surf.

The Recreation Board at McMurdo.

Plenty of opportunities.

An aerial view of McMurdo.

The daily activity board in the galley.

Taped to the wall - I like this.

Tuesday night I went to the gym for volleyball. The heater wasn't working and the digital thermostat read 25 degF. The gym is an old navy quonset hut. Needless to say a frozen volleyball doesn't react well to a hit as it just sort of drops. So we tried playing basketball but a frozen basketball doesn't bounce. We shot around for about 30 minutes before deciding we were too cold. At that point the temperature was 26 so we did induce some heating. Gallagher's bar is on the way back to the dorm so a few of us went in to warm up with a beer. Fun times.

Search and Rescue vehicles

 

I was at the Berg Field Center on Sunday dropping off the camping stuff and came upon the Search and Rescue (SAR) vehicles parked inside the cargo building next door. They are parked inside to stay  warm for a quick start up. The SAR is composed of 7 members from McMurdo and five from Scott Base.

Another map I found. McMurdo is above the "R" in Ross.

A Hagglund. The rear unit is also powered to provide 4 track maneuvering. The vehicle is amphibious with propulsion in water coming from the tracks themselves.

Hydraulic linkage provides full power to all four tracks.

The Pisten Bully - my vehicle of choice.

Pisten Bully.

From the rear seat of the Hagglund.

From the driver's seat.

Bamboo trail marker poles. Bamboo was also used in the early exploring days.

The Berg Field Center contains all the field gear for scientists.

Cool wood sledges.

Speaking of SAR Ivan the Terra Bus had to be pulled out of the thin ice. Date unknown.

This tractor went through the ice too.

Today we drove several miles outside of town to work on the Transfer Data and Relay Satellite ground antenna. It was a cool -44 degF but a fun work day.

Our van would not have made the trek.

Getting to work is an adventure.

The Transfer Data and Relay Satellite (TDRS) Radome.

Back in town for a fill-up.

A grand but bitter cold adventure

Saturday evening four brave souls departed at 7 for an igloo camping trip. It was snowing and blowing which brought even more adventure as we drove up to the igloo village at Castle Rock. Our plan was to cut into the larger igloo, empty it and see if the four of us could sleep comfortably. We decided it would only sleep two so we cut into another one that seemed okay for two more. The work of shoveling the snow out was hard but rewarding as I like this kind of effort. The wind was picking up and snowing harder so the four of us paired up and tried to make some kind of camping conditions inside. 

Ours seemed like a Motel 6 while theirs was a Holiday Inn! In fact we could not get all of our sweaty, snowy and wet clothing off because of the tight space and every time we moved we would hit the side or ceiling and ice would break off. So my igloo partner and I sat against the wall, passed a flask of scotch back and forth while we talked story. It was fun but very drafty inside. I had brought along a digital thermometer from work and measured a chilly -8 degF at 9:30. We then crawled into our -50 deg sleeping bags.  I couldn't stretch out so kind of leaned on the wall and laid with my feet at the door. 

After two hours of not sleeping we started talking how it wasn't getting any warmer inside like it should. At that point the temperature was -16 degF and we were both shivering. We figured that at the coldest time in the morning it would probably be less than -30 degF inside so it was time to bail before hypothermia set in. 


"Igloo 1 this is Igloo 2" we hailed on the radio. After three calls they answered as they were actually sleeping in their draft-less spacious igloo. Neither of us had slept at all. It took 45 minutes to get the Pisten Bully up to temperature and running. There was a full gale blowing at -50 degF with a wind chill probably around -70 degF. As we removed all the gear from the igloo it went flying and I took off running around the glacier picking it all up. It was brutal as you can see from the short 35 second video. My camera shut down after that. It was a long drive home through the very poor visibility and we didn't arrive until after 1am. On Sunday we emptied the Pisten  Bully and returned all the equipment to the Berg Field Center. Surprisingly we didn't lose anything!


The bottom line was that our igloo needed a lot of patch work that we didn't have time to do because of the deteriorating weather. Plus we should not have crawled into the sleeping bags wet. But there was no room to position ourselves to change. If there was just one of us there would have been room to change.


The entire time I was thinking of the old Antarctic explorers who did this day in and day out for weeks at a time. But we did camp for a few hours during mid-winter in an igloo. No one from McMurdo has ever camped during an Antarctic mid-winter and never in an igloo. So we were the first and last. The station manager was on this camping trip and he sent out an email this morning saying there will be no more attempts this winter as it is not the right time of year for this kind of activity. Plus after several months the igloos are collapsing. We had that fear inside so we had shovels to dig ourselves out in case of a collapse.

And one more thing - peeing in a pee bottle at -16 degF isn't fun!

Full of gear and only room for two of us.

The weather wasn't very good when we left...and it deteriorated rapidly.

The smile didn't last long as the bitter cold took over. But the adventure was excellent.

The two of us in the pax were packed in tight.

Cutting the door.

It took us 1 1/2 hours of backbreaking work to cut in and clean out two igloos as they were about 2/3 full of snow. A super fun way to spend Saturday night. I'm serious and really enjoyed the challenge.

We gave up a scotch tasting party for this!

Nice bunny suit.

My igloo partner James Bond.

There wasn't much room for me to stretch out in. We passed the time sharing a flask of scotch and trading camping, biking, and sailing stories. James Bond is the yacht club winter commodore.

To the center left is our door and opening - a very tight cold squeeze.

Back in the Pisten Bully headed for home.

Not much of a smile now...

from either of us.

Back in my room for a long hot shower, a beer then bed at 0230.

A full gale was blowing. It was -50 degF with a windchill of around -70. After 35 seconds the camera quit. The light is the Pisten Bully. I am shouting as loud as I can but the wind is masking my voice.

On Thursday evening I'm hosting a surfing film at the Coffee House Theater. I figure some sun and surf would be entertaining in our cold and dark home.