tl;dr: it’s cold
MISSION UPDATE (still sticking with it for some reason!): The planned pull out of the science team from camp was today (Monday 21st Nov)…sadly it was cancelled so we’ll try again tomorrow. We’ve also had no opportunity to go and get more stations this last weekend due to the weather setting in at McMurdo over the weekend.
Snow/ice camping really shouldn’t be daunting to an experienced camper. So long as you have the right equipment (which we do down here) then you are generally comfortable. You really just have to accept that you won’t be warm unless you are wearing a lot of clothes!
Often the first thing you do when you’re dropped off, literally in the middle of nowhere, is set up a shelter before the plane takes off and heads back to base. This is usually in the form of erecting a Scott tent (a century of technology really hasn’t improved on this design for quick and sturdy shelter). In our case, our camp was coined “Yesterday Camp” due to its proximity to the International Date Line (-78.9723˚S, -179.8868˚W)… the other side from McMurdo Station (-77.85˚S, 166.6667˚E).
Personal tents are usually of the form of mountain tents that are much warmer and comfortable than the Scott tent that, due to its removable floor, usually gets repurposed as an outhouse! Then there are communal tents used for cooking, eating, communications and science (in our case, storing computers for downloading data from the seismic station hard drives). This time we had heaters in a couple of tents which made any down time way more comfortable!
The routine at camp generally starts with breakfast at about 6.45am with a morning meeting discussing the day’s plans at about 7. If the weather’s good and there’s a plane at camp then we can fly and that takes priority. Ideally we want to get wheels off by 8.30am to make the most of the day and get as many stations dug up as possible. The sites that we can snow-machine to are much less dependent on weather conditions and many of them are less than 20km from camp (driving about an hour or so). Lunch is generally of the “packed” variety and it’s obviously a good idea to bring plenty of water in a thermos. Even though it’s cold, it can get pretty hot and sweaty digging 6-foot holes in the ground all day, plus the air is so dry it’s really easy to get dehydrated. I’ll try and cover the actual station recovery in another post otherwise this one will be way too long!
By the time we get back to camp there’s usually a bit of time to relax, grab a hot drink, and rest any aching muscles before dinner at 6pm. Dinner is usually pretty high in calories, plenty of carbs and fat to help keep the body’s engine warm. Mostly it’s all food that can be frozen or is canned, fresh fruit and veg is pretty much out I’m afraid. We do have a plentiful supply of beer and chocolate though so it’s not all bad! Granted most of it is well past its sell-by date…
If the weather is nice and the winds are light, it really can be a pleasant experience to be out in the middle of nowhere, away from it all…oh and the American election…ugh. We brought with us some entertainment with some cross-country skis, board games, a frisbee and even a croquet set! Sadly we didn’t get to pay croquet while I was there…it’s not the flattest of ground so it would have been interesting.
~Martin
Martin J. Pratt 