New Years Eve, Antarctica Style

For New Years Eve here in Antarctica the main festivity was “icestock”, which is basically McMurdo’s version of Woodstock.  All week long they had been preparing/setting up for today’s big event.  There was a stage, bleachers, and a few booths set up just outside of the main dorm room area, and we had several different bands play throughout the night.  Despite the fact that there really aren’t too many people here in town, I was surprised d to see how many decent bands they were able to put together for the concert.  The show lasted from about 6:00pm to 1:00am, but because it was so cold people tended to filter in and out throughout the night.  They also roasted two full pigs for ten hours, and barbequed some hot dogs and burgers, etc. 

So I guess once again all I can say is that I never thought I would be bringing the New Year along side a bunch of hippies and nomads in the middle of Antarctica, but all in all I must say that I had a pretty good time, and surprisingly they really did manage to put together a decent show. 

Christmas in Antarctica

Christmas in Antarctica was a lot different than back home to say the least.  They do their best to try and put up some decorations around town and all, but no matter what they do, it just doesn’t seem to have the feel of Christmas.  In fact, for Christmas Eve this year I spent my night (if you can call it night) hiking to the top of Castle Rock once again with a couple of buddies.  I will say this though, never in my life would I have guessed that I would be spending Christmas on the top of a huge cliff in Antarctica, that’s for sure. 

On the other hand, it was nice to get some packages from back home, and Christmas dinner was awesome!  They served all kinds of food including lobster, steak, duck, lamb, mashed potatoes, etc…and the list goes on, not to mention all of the desserts, so that was probably the highlight of Christmas for me this year.  It was also nice to have a two-day weekend this weekend, and because its New Years next week, we should be getting another long weekend next weekend, so that should be nice.

Other than that, I just wanted to wish everyone back home a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Castle Rock



In the last few weeks here at McMurdo the temperatures have continued to go up, and therefore so have the outdoor activities around town, hikes, etc.  So Sunday morning we decided we were going to head out to Castle Rock, which is pretty much the only hike in the area that I hadn’t attempted since I have been here.  The hike is a total of 7 miles (round trip), and in order to attempt it, you have to check out a radio with the fire department and schedule a departure and return time before you can leave town.  If for any reason you are not going to meet your return time, you are required to radio ahead and update the firehouse, otherwise, if you are more than two minutes late, the search and rescue team is called into action and it becomes a pretty big deal.

Approaching Castle Rock

So anyways, we started out at about 10:00am.  The trail is marked the entire way by a line of flags that head directly to the base of castle rock.  The hike is deceiving in that you can see Castle Rock itself almost from the time you start, but no matter how long you walk, it never seems to get any closer.  The first quarter mile of the trail took the longest because it was covered in melting snow and ice, so we found ourselves constantly stepping in large puddles of slush, but after we got through that first section it went relatively fast.  It was a bit cloudy on Sunday, but the weather was really nice and was probably in the high 30’s or low 40’s.  Along the way to Castle Rock there are two warming huts that are set up, just incase you are out there and you get stuck in a storm, you can use these huts for shelter.  So after a little over an hour of walking we finally reached the base of Castle Rock.  Castle Rock itself is pretty cool landmark to see, it’s a huge cliff formation that sits towards the base of Mt Erebus.  We hung out at the bottom for a little while before heading around to the other side to meet up with the trail that takes you to the top of the rock. As we continued to get higher, the trail continued to get steeper and steeper until we were almost vertical, at which point there were ropes that had been anchored into the side of the rock that we used to help pull ourselves up.  Along the way to the summit, there were some amazing views in every direction.  From this point it only took us about a half hour to get to the top of the cliff itself, and on top the views just continued to get better.  So after hanging out on top for about an hour or so, we decided to head back down.

All in all I would have to say that Castle Rock is by far the best hike in the area, and the fact that we only saw two other people the entire day made it even better.  We are already talking about going up again in a week or two, and possibly even camping, so I guess we’ll see how that goes.

A Hard Days Work

Since I got home from WAIS a few weeks back I have been working on our NPOESS crew running 3” and 4” Ridged conduit for NASA.  Running ridged conduit is hard, but interesting work.  I had run some ridged in the past, but hadn’t worked a whole lot with some of the bigger stuff until now.  There is a lot of math involved in the bending and unlike working with EMT, each piece really has to be planned out ahead of time and bent to an exact degree in order to make everything screw together properly.  The journeyman in charge of our crew does have a lot of experience, so it has been nice to be able to work on the project and to have the opportunity to learn some new job skills. 

 NPOESS is short for National Polar Orbital Environmental Satellite System, and we have been running the power for a new satellite that is supposed to be put in next year.  It is my understanding that the satellites are used to monitor and study climate and weather.  So between the four of us, we have ran several hundred feet of ridged within the last couple of weeks.  All of the work is on top of a ridge and it is extremely cold, windy, and basically miserable about 99% of the time.  By the end of the day I am usually covered in oil, wind burned, sun burned, sand blasted, frozen, and exhausted from carrying around and spinning on 100lb sticks of conduit….the joys of Antarctica!  We are just finishing up however, and it is now time to pull wire, which hopefully will go smoothly tomorrow.  Although it has been hard work, it makes for the days to go by faster and it is pretty cool to be able to work on another project that is going to be used for science.

 

Observation Hill

Last night around 8:00pm I decided to go for a hike up Observation Hill.  Ob Hill is probably the most popular hike here at McMurdo and because it is so steep, it makes for a good work out.  I had already made the climb once earlier in the season, but two of my buddies were going up for the first time so I decided to join them.  The hike itself only takes around an hour round trip, but it is really steep, and is basically straight up hill the whole time, and the whole way you are walking along steep ledges and loose jagged lava rock. 

 At the top of Ob Hill there are awesome views in every direction, and you can look out and get a good look at Mt Erebus, White Island, Black Island, and in the distance we could even see the open water, which is rumored to now be about 20 miles north of McMurdo.  A little later in the year a huge “ice breaker” ship comes in and smashes up all the ice surrounding McMurdo, this is when there is a chance of seeing more marine life, like killer whales etc.  The Ice Runway/airport is also in the process of being relocated to the Pegasus runway, which is several miles further out.  They do this every year around this time to make way for the thawing Ross Sea before the ice starts to crack and break up. 

 There is also a cross that has been placed at the top of Observation Hill that has been there since 1913.  The cross was put there to commemorate captain Scott and his party, who lost their lives on their return journey from the South Pole almost 100 years ago.  So, we found a place out of the wind and hung out up there for about an hour or so before making our way back down to the dorms.  Overall not a bad hike, next on the agenda is Castle Rock, which is quite a bit further, and takes you closer to Mt Erebus (the volcano).  So I am going to try and do that one on Sunday depending on the weather.

MCI Drill

Every year here at McMurdo they have a staged MCI (Mass Casualty Incident) drill, so that in the event of a real disaster, the community will be prepared.  The medical facility here is very small and can only support a handful of patients at a time, so in the event of a bigger accident or disaster, a good portion of the community gets together to turn the firehouse into a backup hospital area where injured patients can go in the event of an emergency.  That drill was scheduled for today, and since earlier in the season I had volunteered to be a “stretcher bearer”, I had to jump in and help out as well.

So anyways, today at 1:00pm the alarm sounded and everyone was called to spring into action and participate in this drill to simulate a real disaster.  This is actually a pretty big event here in town, a lot of people get involved, and they actually shut down work for a couple of hours.  There are several different groups assigned to different areas…you have the stretcher-bearers, who transport patients from the vehicles into and around the hospital, there is also a security crew who keeps things under control and prevents unauthorized people from entering the firehouse/hospital, and then you also have a group in charge of playing the victims.  Well, they go all out with the victims, they are all assigned different roles and even put on make up and do their best to act out their parts/ailments.

So anyways, this all lasted a couple of hours and was pretty chaotic, but I did my best to help out by transporting the “patients” to/around the area.  The funny thing is, with all the planning that goes into this thing, it really does feel a lot like you would expect an actual emergency situation might feel like.  This all came about a few years back when there was a plane crash over Mt. Erebus and there was no plan in place to handle the amount of injured people, so all in all, I guess its probably a pretty smart idea to run these drills, plus I got the afternoon off of work, cant argue with that!

Working in WAIS

Last Friday they sent me out to lovely WAIS, a.k.a. the “Western Antarctic Ice Shelf”.  So on Friday morning at 9:00am, the seven of us…two electricians, a lineman, and a couple of “GA’s”, boarded the C130 and headed out.  Flying on a C130 was a cool experience, it is a little smaller than the C17 we flew in on, but the interior is similar and is basically the same set up.  Before we took off, one of the crew members asked my buddy Jacob and I if we wanted to ride in the cockpit, so we headed up there and we were able to sit right behind the pilots and experience the whole flight first hand, which was really awesome.  WAIS itself is about 800 miles into the continent from McMurdo, and the flight takes around 4 hours.  As we took off from McMurdo, we flew over Black Island for about ten minutes, and were able to check out some mountain views, but after that, it is just plain, flat, white, as far as the eye can see for hundreds of miles.  So after a few hours went by we set down on an icy runway in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a few “Jamesways”, and a group of tents in the distance.

The doors opened for us to exit the plane and we were greeted by high winds, low visibility, and temperatures in the neighborhood of –20F.  We grabbed our bags and were led to the “Galley”, which is a small Jamesway set up where all the food is served and is the main meeting area in WAIS.  We were then given some lunch and met the people in the camp, which included a handful of mechanics, carpenters, GA’s, and some camp management.  After which, we followed a trail of flags about 100 yards into the horizon until we reached “tent town”.  This is where all of the tents are set up and is basically home for the duration of our time at camp.  So I proceeded to set up my tent, which is not the easiest task in below zero temps, but I was able to get it staked down really well and the set up went fine.

The next morning, the weather had cleared up a bit and we had a meeting with some of the mechanics and camp management to go over the tasks we needed to take care of, and tried to come up with a plan and prioritize some of our workload.  The main reason we were sent out was to work with the lineman and provide power to the town and connect the drilling arch to the generator power.  The drilling arch is the building that contains the big drill that the scientists use to drill down into the ice and take core samples, which allow them to study climate change, etc.  The trouble is, this building is almost completely buried with over 40ft of snow, and until they dig it out, the only way to access it was by using an extension ladder set up through a small space at the top of the building. 

 So we proceeded to put a full day of work in on Saturday, and aside from some of our parts missing, everything went relatively well.  As it got later in the day the weather continued to get worse and the winds continued to pick up.  So I headed to my tent and tried my best to get settled in, but between the brutal cold temps and the wind blowing, I could tell right away that it was going to be a long night.  We were given two sleeping bags; one mummy bag and a rectangle bag as well, so between the two bags, I really didn’t get too cold, though it was a pain getting in to the tent and getting ready for bed.  The toughest thing for me was the wind, and the light.  The wind blew so hard those first couple of nights that it sounded like I was sleeping inside of a freight train, and much like Happy Camper training, it was tough to wake up at 2:00am and be blinded by the light shining through the tent.

When I woke up Sunday morning the weather had actually got even worse and the visibility was pretty poor.  I was able to follow the flag line back into town without any issues, but because the weather was now in “condition 2” we were not allowed to work, and everyone ended up staying indoors and basically reading magazines the whole day, which made for an extremely long, and boring day.  According to the weather report with the winds the temps dropped to around –35 to –40F, which is a new Antarctic low for me.

Walking to my tent from the outhouse in "condition 2" weather, WAIS. Wind was a little Brisk!

Luckily after that first initial storm came through the weather turned around a bit and we were able to start plugging along pretty well.  Between the lineman, Jacob, and myself, we had the town power up within the next couple of days and then we moved on to the arch.  The arch was actually really cool; we went down into this building completely buried by snow with a couple of flashlights and even though there was no wind it was still –20F.  Inside the arch it looked like a place where you might find some kind of Antarctic experiment gone wrong, or some kind of a creature, or alien, reminded me a lot of the movie “The Thing”, pretty cool  So, we inspected the electrical panels to ensure everything was ready for power and gave the go-ahead and fire up the generator. 

So after a few days of work we had pretty much accomplished everything on our list ahead of schedule, and even though we were originally scheduled for two weeks, we were able to catch a ride home this afternoon on another C130 that was bringing in supplies.  WAIS was cool to see, and wasn’t bad staying there for a week, but it would be rough to stay there until February.  It is brutal cold and windy, and not much to do other than work.  Too bad I wasn’t able to stick around to see the drill up and running, apparently last year they drilled down to the 2-mile mark.  It’s nice to be back at McMurdo tonight, hopefully I will be able to catch up on some sleep.

The Pressure Ridges

Last night I was fortunate enough to head out on one of the Pressure Ridge tours just outside of Scott Base.  The Pressure Ridges are these spectacular looking ice ridges that are formed when the sea ice meets the permanent ice.  I had seen the ridges a couple of times while visiting Scott Base, but it was always from a distance, so I was excited to be able to check them out up close.

There were 9 people on the tour as well as one guide.  So we made our way on foot from Scott Base out onto the sea ice, where we were able to take a trail and weave in and out of these ridges.  The ridges themselves are these large jagged ice formations that come in all different shapes and sizes.  Similar to the ice berg I saw a couple of weeks back, the color on these things is pretty awesome, and when the light hits them certain way they seem to glow.  While making my way through the icy pathway, I couldn’t help but think to myself, that as a whole, this place really is more like another planet than another continent.

As we made our way further along the trail, we came across a weddell seal laying out on the ice.  As soon as our group got close enough it starting barking and rolling around on the ice.  It hung around long enough for us to get a couple of pictures before it made its way into the ridges and out of sight.  We pressed on and came across various other groups of seals along our way, each one seemingly has its own personality, so you never quite know what they are going to do, but all in all they really didn't seem to be bothered by our presence. 

The whole tour took approximately two hours, and was around a mile and half of walking.  The temperature was probably around zero with the wind-chill, but its amazing how tolerable 0 degrees seems when you have the right gear on, and after you are acclimated to the weather/environment.  So all in all, another interesting tour, and I would say that this was another one of those instances when you truly know that you are in Antarctica, and that you are seeing something that you would probably never see anywhere else on earth.  So a pretty cool experience, but I am still waiting for my first penguin sighting!

Next on the agenda....WAIS camp.  Thursday morning I am scheduled to fly out to the Western Antarctic Ice Shelf field camp.  I should be out there for at least two weeks or so, and I will not have any communication with the outside world, other than maybe one satellite phone.  I will try to update my blog with the details when I return.  In the mean time my main focus, other than searching for a Yetti, will be staying warm and getting back to McMurdo ASAP!

Trail Maintenance

For today's Sunday activity I volunteered to be on the trail maintenance crew.  The maintenance crew is a small team of maybe 30 volunteers that get together ever so often to clear the ice and snow on some of the more popular trails around McMurdo.  In addition to shoveling pathways sometimes it is also necessary to replace flags, add signs, trail markers, etc. 

Today my group was in charge of the trail maintenance on the back side of Observation Hill here in McMurdo.  We were divided up into a group of about 15 people and were issued shovels, tools, etc. and we headed up the mountain.  Today was a bit windy, but all in all was a nice day for a hike, and it only took us about 20 minutes to get up to the area we were working on.  Because some of the trails around town get traveled on quite a bit, they tend to get packed down with hard ice and snow and can be pretty slippery and dangerous if not maintained, especially in the steeper areas

So we formed an assembly line and everyone chipped and dug away at the trails for a couple of hours.  The temperature was probably around +10F with the wind-chill, but it was pretty physical work and with all the moving around it was easy to stay warm.  From what they say, a little later in the year when some of the sea ice breaks up a bit, the trail we were working on makes for a good place to whale watch, and occasionally you can see killer whales swimming by.  So a little later in the year I will have to check it out and see if I can get lucky enough to see some wildlife.

So after a couple of hours we had pretty much cleared a safe path around the back side of Ob Hill and called it a day.  A lot of physical work, but all in all it was nice just to get out and check out the area….

Scott Base

Every Thursday night, there are shuttles that run from McMurdo station over to the New Zealand station, Scott Base.  The New Zealanders, or “Kiwis” as they are called around these parts, have a much smaller base than McMurdo, and from what I understand, they only keep a maximum of 85 workers stationed there at one time.  Last night I went over to check out Scott Base for the first time. 

The base is located maybe 2-3 miles from McMurdo, so it only takes a few minutes to get there by shuttle.  There are basically only two reasons to go to the Kiwi base, either to go to the bar, or to buy souvenirs from their station store.  The rest of the base is off limits to us Americans, unless you have special permission.  So, I figured I would head over to check it out for something to do.  Their base is located right on the edge of these “Pressure Ridges” on the ice, which is basically where two slabs of ice collide together to form these huge ice formations.  McMurdo does a tour of the ridges that allows you to get up close and check them out, but it fills up quickly and apparently they only allow a limited amount of people out there each season, so I will be trying to sign up for that one soon! 

As far as size goes, it is definitely smaller than McMurdo, and all of the buildings are painted in a bright green color.  I went in and checked out the small store, and they did have a few cool little souvenirs, but things are pretty pricey.  They do accept American money though, which was nice, so I was able to pick up a couple of small things. 

I spent a little bit of time walking around the outside of the base and checking out the sights for a while before heading back to McMurdo.  For the most part, the Kiwi base is pretty cool, and is a lot less hectic than McMurdo, which has a lot of people passing through on their way to other camps.  I will probably try to head over there from time to time just to check things out and to talk to some of the New Zealanders.

A Close Encounter!

A few days back there was an email sent out around the base telling us about an “observation tube” that had been set up by the divers, out on the sea ice off of Hut Point.  So this afternoon, after dinner, my buddy and I went out to take a look.  This observation tube is a “pod-like” cylinder that has been drilled down into the sea ice.  It is an extremely tight fit, and is definitely not for the claustrophobic, but you can actually climb down this small ladder, into a little glass corridor and sit beneath the sea ice in the open ocean.  As you climb down, you can’t help but feel a little bit of panic, due to the extremely tight space, but once you get to the bottom is well worth it!  I actually got to sit in this little room under the sea ice, with glass views 360 degrees around me. 

As you sit there, the water is so clear that you can see all the way to the bottom in every direction, and it is probably around 100 feet deep. I could see all kinds of little glow in the dark sea creatures floating around me and in the distance there were some good-sized jellyfish as well.  I have talked to some of the divers around here in the past and they say that this is by far the clearest water they have ever been in, and after seeing it for myself, I believe them.  I tried to take several pictures while in the tube, but unfortunately due to the glare from the glass none of them really came out.

So, after we had both taken a turn in the tube, we headed over to a little “dive shack” that had been set up not far from where we were.  In the dive shack there is a hole that has been drilled into the ice, where the divers come in and out of the frigid water when making their dives.  Again, you can look down into the water and see 100 feet down to the ocean floor with glowing creatures below.  So as we were sitting there looking down into this hole, suddenly a massive seal comes swimming up to the surface for a breath of air!  This thing was huge! And it was awesome to be able to see it up close, I could have easily reached out and touched it no problem.  It came up gasping for air, but didn’t seem to mind that we were there at all.  All the while, we are within arms reach of this thing snapping pictures and taking videos.  So after hanging out at the surface for a few minutes, it had caught its breath, and was ready to be on its way.  It was interesting to see it dive back down, in that it really didn’t put forth any effort; instead it took one final deep breath and just kind of sunk peacefully into the depths of the Ross Sea. 

Within the past month of being in Antarctica I have now seen several seals, but always from a distance, and always laying on the ice like large slugs, and until now they didn’t seem very exciting.  When you see them up close however, it is a completely different story.  I never realized how massive they actually are, and how graceful they are as soon as they are in the water.  Now if I could only see a damn penguin up close I would be good to go!

Dorm Life...

The dorm rooms here at McMurdo can be summed up with one word, tight!  There are approximately 150 more people here this year than there have been in years past due to the work load and the number of projects going on this year.  You don’t really tend to notice a whole lot of people when you are working, or out around the station, but when lunch and dinner time come around, it gets pretty crowded. 

Raytheon’s solution to accommodate the large amount of people this year?…Bunk Beds!  Yes that’s right, installing bunk beds and cramming as many of us into a room as they can.  I lucked out in the fact that I don’t have any bunks in my room, but I do have to share a room (a small room) with four other roommates.  My roommates are all really pretty laid back and we all tend to get along really well so I guess I lucked out in that area.  The hardest thing to get used to around here I would say has to be the shower and laundry situation.  There are basically only four shower stalls on the whole first level of my dorm, none of which has very much privacy, and everyone has to take turns so it can get a little frustrating from time to time. 

As if that wasn’t enough, the laundry situation is a nightmare.  There is one small room that has around four washers and four dryers.  For the most part, every time I have gone down there at least two of the machines are broken and under repair.  If you are lucky enough to actually get a machine to use, then you have to wait around for a dryer forever, and the whole process takes around two hours from start to finish, and that’s for one load.  

Although I’m not too thrilled about the whole cramped living situation, I guess I will just have to try and adapt for now, and just dream about my king size bed waiting for me at home.  Although I’m pretty sure Rusty has officially taken over my place on my bed at home…. Damn..Oh well.

Hut Point Ridge Hike

Today was Sunday, which means I had the day off, so I decided to head out on a little hike along the Hut Point Ridgeline trail, not far from McMurdo.  The hike itself is only about 2.9 miles round trip, so nothing major.  If you go on any of the farther hikes you are actually required to complete a whole check out process before you can leave; notify the fire department, check out a radio, fill out some paperwork, etc.  That way if you don’t show up or check in at your estimated time back, search and rescue teams are notified and it becomes a pretty serious issue.  But, since we were just heading out around town it wasn’t necessary for this hike.

When we started out, there was relatively no wind and clear skies, the temperature was probably around +5F or so, which is actually warmer than it has been lately.  On our way we came across a seal laying out on the ice, so we stopped and checked it out for a min and then we headed up the face of the ridge.  As you hike up the ridge there are some pretty awesome views all the way around.  On one side you have the frozen Ross Sea and on clear days you can look out across and see the mountains on the opposite side shore.  On the other side, there are various other ridges and mountains and a good view of McMurdo as well.  The trail itself wasn’t too bad, but it is steep in sections and can be pretty slippery, the lava rock is also sharp and can be challenging to walk on at times. 

As we headed up, the wind continued to get stronger and steadier.  By the time we reached the top of the series of ridges, the wind was so strong and cold that it was literally hard to stand.  There were times when I could lay back with all of my weight into the wind and be completely supported.  The wind in Antarctica is tricky and can be hard to predict, for the most part it doesn’t just come in gusts, when it blows, it blows hard and steady, and it doesn’t stop. 

So anyways, we pressed on and we were able to make it back with no issues, but it was interesting to see just how fast the wind can shift and how deceiving the weather can be down here.  When we started out there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but with the wind blowing I would say the temps were well below zero.  There are a few other popular hikes around that I hope to get to soon, hopefully it won’t be blowing quite as hard next time!

"Happy Camper"

I headed out on Tuesday morning for “Happy Camper” training.  Right off the bat, the forecast for the day was a high of 0 degrees, and a low of –35 with the wind chill…Dammit!, not a good start.

Before we actually headed out to the camping area, which is basically in the middle of nowhere, we met up in a classroom for a couple of hours to go over all the different types of risks, safety, what to expect, etc.  Our instructors were both very knowledgeable and experienced.  They have both been down here for several years and they did their best to get us prepped for the night ahead. 

After our class work was done, we loaded up all of our gear on to one of the “Deltas”, similar to what I took to Cape Evans.  We made one last stop at the dorms, and we were off.  It only took about twenty minutes to get to the area where we would be camping, which is just east of the New Zealand Antarctic base (Scott Base).  As soon as we arrived, the twenty of us were basically herded into a small tent-like structure called a “James way”, where we were given some lunch and some more instructions.  Once we were done with lunch, and all other class work, (a couple hours later) we were then issued our sleeping kits, which included a sleeping bag, blanket, and two sleeping pads. 

Our instructors then gave us a quick overview on the stoves, how to set up the two different types of tents, the proper way to make water from snow, and a few other necessities.  We basically had two options.  We could either choose to sleep in one of the tents that were provided, or we could choose to build our own snow shelter to sleep in.  Out of the twenty of us, about 5 of us decided to go for the snow trench! Myself included.  Our instructor gave us a quick demo on how he usually goes about building his snow shelters, but it was ultimately up to us, after all we would be the ones sleeping in them.

So at 6:30pm the instructors gave us one last talk before they headed out, and we were left to fend for ourselves for the night in the middle of Antarctica, which is a little intimidating I have to say.  Before we could construct our snow shelters, all of the tents had to be set up, and we had to create a wall out of snow blocks, to block the wind.  We used saws and shovels and were able to cut and stack good sized blocks, and within about an hour or so we had a nice sized wall constructed, and we were then able to put up the tents.  Finally, around 8:30pm or so, I started on my snow shelter.  The snow is very solid and heavy, but easy to work with and can be molded into blocks using saws and shovels.  I dug out a rectangular trench about six feet long by 3 feet wide, and approximately 3 and a half feet deep.  After I had this done I started cutting blocks to make a roof, which was pretty challenging.  All the while it is below zero temps, and the harder you work, the more you sweat.  This is a bad thing because as your clothes get damp, they literally freeze within a few mins, but luckily the wind wasn’t blowing too hard and we all had brought along dry clothes to change into.  Anyways, by the time I finally had my shelter ready, it was about 11:00pm, but still bright daylight outside.  I curled up in my sleeping bag with several layers of clothing and headed to bed not really knowing what to expect.

Well, talk about a LONG night.  Within a couple of minutes of getting in bed I quickly realized that my socks were damp from all the work I had done, which is bad news.  My toes started freezing pretty quickly, so luckily I had some toe warmers with me, and I was able to stuff them into a pair of dry socks and change them out.  After that, it was okay for a while, but still pretty uncomfortable with the cold all night long, and every hour or so I found myself waking up to make small adjustments.  My shelter did do a good job blocking the wind and actually, the reason it was so hard to sleep had more to do with the light than the cold.  When you wake up and look at your watch and its 3:00am but the sun is shining in your face, it totally messes you up!

Anyways, I just realized that I am basically writing a novel here, so to make a long story short, I survived the night!  Come to find out, it never got down to –35, but we radioed the station this morning and they say it did reach –22 F, which is still COLD, believe me!  While it was a cool experience to be able to actually go camping in Antarctica, At this point I am just happy to be back to my dorm with all my fingers and toes in tact.  I am pretty much exhausted physically and mentally at this point and could probably use a day to recharge, but of course I have to get up bright and early for work…oh well, better be off to sleep.