19 January 2008
Temp: 42F Winds: calm
Greetings All,
Well, no one died and we are off the plateau and back at McMurdo station. Thank God! Its been one long season down here for me even though its only been a little under three months. Here is a picture of the seismic recording boxes that we buried at each site.
Lets see, where did I leave you guys? I think we were headed for our little camping trip up on the high altitude plateau. Upon arrival we had two basecamp structures set up and awaiting us so all we had to do was walk in, turn on the heat and try to breath! We spent four days acclimatizing and letting the air get use to us. We arrived just in time for Christmas Eve and Christmas day...Santa did not bring his sorry tail down here this year...something about it being to cold for the reindeer…WIMPS!
Shortly after arrival we received our first big plane cargo mission...unfortunately they sort of sent the wrong stuff and we were really low on good food; I am done with dehydrated backpacker food forever! The field corps arrived almost a week after us and began their acclimatization phase. Due to bad weather back at McMurdo and S. Pole we only had 3-4 flights arrive with our gear and supplies, none-the-less we were able to put up 4 structures, a 16,000 foot skiway and get our cargo (that did arrive) ready to spend the winter up there. All in all a successful season with what we had to work with…go figure.
Weather was awesome the entire field season up there. Temps averaged -32 F with winds around 5 knots, which is a wind chill of around -45F. It was cold but not that bad? We had clear skies every day and only had a few days when the wind whipped up to 15 knots...now that was COLD!
No altitude illness to report this season. However, it was a strange acclimatization phase. We all had shortness of breath for the entire season and our sleep patterns were off most nights...i.e. we did not sleep much at all. I am sure it was due to the altitude, cold and sun phases but I have not experienced that at any other high altitude camp that I have worked in the past...will have to look into that when I get home.
Lets see; only one science project was done at our camp this season: a group flew in for 2-days to set up a remote GPS recording station, well, we actually set it up for them as they did not have time to acclimatize and I did not want them sick, so we did the work. Plus, we wanted them in and out quick!
So, in short, that was the season. A lot of drama to start with and some cargo issues out in the field, but all in all okay.
As for next season? We now have part of our large camp built and we will be able to drop in and continue to set up a few more structures and get ready for science. We will have two Twin Otter aircraft up there for the season next year flying around doing radar mapping of a range of mountains buried under the ice, so its going to be a busy one. We still need to build our acclimatization camp located at 9,500 feet a little down the road from this camp, so it will be a cold early season next year.
For now? I have to go back into the field for a few days next week and then I will be wrapping up things for the season. I am hoping to be off this ice sheet by the 29th of January and surfing by the 30th in New Zealand. Krisitin arrives back in the country from Nepal around 2 Feb. so it would be nice to pick her up at the airport.
Well folks...thats probably it for the 2007-2008 DSP reports. Hope everyone is well and happy and looking forward to catching-up back in the states. By the way, Happy New Year!
On a side note, we leave for Everest March 17th, so if you are coming out skiing with us in Colorado, you had better hurry up!
Take care and be safe out there!
Tayloe
