April 2007

   Sunday was  a lazy day for some, especially Cyril the chef. Its his only day-off. So volunteers are invited to sign up for the Sunday cook. I was on this particular Sunday and had a interesting day. The views from the kitchen are spectacular but when its sunny and bright and no one is around because they're all snowboarding or skiing, it can be slightly frustrating. Brunch comprises a fry-up, and some needed it more than others after a very good party night. Then dinner was lasagne with pavlova that Cyril made the night before. I just threw them together and took the credit.
   Not only was Cyril off for the Sunday but also the week as he had his winter trip. Not a big fan of 'roughing it' after a past experience of being stuck in the field for two weeks, Cyril wanted to go out boating. So I gave Cyril, Rich Logan (the electrician and similar winter tripper) with their GA's Mark and Drew, plus Ali as crew, a trip to Lagoon island. Ali was attempting the collection of some inter-tidal plates which weren't accessible at that time but which she thought would be better attempted the next day. So we left the day trippers to enjoy the view and we headed back to collect some things. Cyril and Mark would stay with Ali. We returned, I picked up Rich and Drew and headed home.

   The next day proved a little interesting as some wind had blown a good swell into the local area. Picking the passengers up was possible and with Mike the Winter Base Commander as my crew, we set off to Lagoon. All packed up and advised to prepare for getting wet, I steered to boat for Rothera. Conditions were against us. the wind was building slowly, the sea was -1C which meant spray started to freeze as soon as it touched air (-7C), and the sun was sitting on top of Rothera Ops tower. we made it back fine, though a little icy as one can see in the pictures.

That's ice all over me, and I can't feel my fingers!	Mike, my crew did a sterling job as lookout. Though, how I don't know?	'Stella' the diveboat, nicknamed 'Popsicle'

   Once warmed up, we managed to get the girls into South Cove for a dive, and then later in the afternoon, Kelvin and I managed a dive off the wharf to 30m to collect deep limpets. The visibility is now about 20m and at 15m depth, the wharf looks absolutely massive.

   Wednesday promised another perfect diving day so we got the girls in again. This time in South Cove but slightly deeper as they went to photo 'the plates'. These plates are mounted on the seabed and taking photos every month allows the scientists to gauge what sort of organisms are colonising and to what intensity.

Ali next to her beloved plates. Photos by Birgit, created by Ali M	A very arty photo of Birgit. Photos by Ali Massey	On arriving at the surface, the girls are greeted by the guys in the boat. Photos by Ali Massey

   After the dive, there was the Wednesday Training afternoon, where we set each wed pm for Marine Team training, generally from Kelvin or I. This week, Kelvin and Alistair the Doctor went for a dive in 'the Pot'. This doesn't mean filling a big saucepan with water, in fact in means they climbed into the close confines of the Recompression Chamber and were pressurised to 18m below sea level. diving is inherently dangerous with Man not readily designed for staying underwater. There are many hazards that professional divers avoid through training, experience and procedures. At BAS Rothera, Kelvin as the Dive Officer is responsible for our safety and does a brilliant job of looking after it. However, you can't prevent the impossible so we have a Chamber so that if anyone suffers a form of barotrauma (pressure-related injury), we have to the means to attempt treatment. Essentially, they would be placed in the chamber, blown back down to depth and then returned to the surface is a slow, controlled manner, hopefully relieving the symptoms. It is essential that the Marine Team are trained in its use, and we (Ali, Birgi and myself) received a week of training in the UK before deployment and subsequently training down here. This week, I was to supervise with Birgit and Stephen as attendants and Ali as a tender.  Alistair has to get some experience as he might have to treat a patient and so he should get some experience. It all went very well and, bar the laughing and Kelvin and his squeaky voice (pressure on the vocal cords makes you sound like you've supped a wee bit of helium), the exercise was very professional.

Kenny and I watch dawn rise over Ryder Bay from the kitchen window. Not bad, eh!	Birgit controls the rate of ascent by releasing the pressure and Stephen watches. Ali (hidden) logs aspects of the dive.	Alistair and Kelvin emerge from the chamber, all smiles!

    With Cyril putting his feet up and going out for day trips, we've all been volunteering to cook meals. So on Thursday, I opted for lunch and Ali and Kelvin were doing dinner. So an early start and bread into the ovens to bake, then some cold dishes from the fridges and a black-eyed pea soup with wholemeal baguette. All very tasty! With some time to spare before dinner, Ali and I squeezed in a dive off the wharf. We were diving with the camera and recording the substrate (bottom type) as well as some rubbish collection. Invariably things get blown about or fall over the side. So we did a static dive with Kelvin and Stephen the plumber (trainee dive supervisor) sitting at the surface on a moored boat. The visibility was very good and some rubbish was retrieved.

Sponges, encrusting algaes and other wee beasties litter the rocks.	Making my way up, with the boat above me and whark to my right.	Me at the 6m safety stop.

   After all the excitement of the week, Friday was spent attending to menial tasks and writing my annual boating report.

   On Saturday, I had again volunteered to do some cooking so baked more bread and with one of the guys having a birthday made some rather nice ginger biscuits dipped in chocolate, plus some other main dish which I can't remember! In the afternoon, with lovely weather a whole group of us went skiing and snowboarding. The light fades fast here but we all had an excellent afternoon, before returning to make a communal curry with all the extras. Very nice!

   Sunday was another beautiful morning and I was on gash (cleaning duties). No worries, we all have to do it. Drew and Richard L were on cooking and whilst putting together the usual fried food, decided to make it more of an event with a menu and music selection, plus deep-fried mars bar. Yep, its a legend in Glasgow but exists at Rothera. Quite nice, especially with the Guinness batter, however the doctor was slightly concerned by the number of days it might take off us. It was after lunch that AListair, Drew and I sneaked off to the ice cliffs for some ice-climbing action in the little sun that remained and it was excellent. A busy and exciting week came to a close with 'Bladerunner' for Movie Night or 'Foxhat' as we call it.

Winter Trip #1
   We have all journeyed to Rothera to experience living and working in the Antarctic. This in itself is quite demanding and we have still to see the winter. When we first arrived we all did Field Training, which gave us core skills essential for co-pilot trips and surviving the deep south should we have a major incident. Now that we are isolated and about to experience harsher conditions, we are allowed two winter trips of a week long to go out and do some winter sports, travel about the island or learn some new skills. Rothera is located at a south east point of Adelaide Island and there are well-known routes to mountains in the area so that we can challenge our intentions. Essentially, we have a week's holiday and learn more skills.
   I requested a brief trip to Cavajal, some snowboarding and mountaineering. Cavajal is the old BAS base at the southern tip of Adelaide Island that is now Chilean and is abandoned during the winter. It is a well-known trip destination with large numbers of wildlife and a different view of the area. it is a day's journey (about 90kms) by skidoo and has very interesting views, with the some original base buildings. The snowboarding and mountaineering was going to occur at a couple of selected mountains on the east side of the Princess Royal Range which is the mountains stretching along the southern spine of the island. We would journey from Rothera to the NW, through the infamous MacCallum's Pass, then turning south at Mount Mange to head south.
   Last month saw me being trained up by Mark, my Field Assistant for the trip and so on Saturday 31st March, 'early doors' we found ourselves with clear skies and a beautiful dawn, firing up our skidoos and hitching our sledges along with Sledge Delta (Tris the Comms manager and Drew, his FGA).  Field Assistants or FGA's spend the summer months deep field ensuring the safe working of scientists all over the western Antarctic. Some will be driving miles across the ice sheet with a glaciologist measuring the depths of ice with a radar. Others might maintain a static site on which they are drilling holes in the ice. Generally departing FGA's might head north early and take geologists onto Antarctic islands with the assistance of the HMS Endurance helicopters. During the winter, they maintain the field equipment, hang around in a little group, whispering amongst themselves and complain about the coffee! They come from mountain backgrounds though not necessarily professional. They have experience of logistics and planning and show an aptitude for digging. For the winterers to go on their trip, the field assistants will guide them into the field, teach them the skills and take them where they wish to go. The FGA's will organise the whole thing or you can involve yourself as much as possible. So busy as I am with boating, Mark did much of the planning and with training completed we were able to set off. Training involved crevasse rescue techniques (how to lower yourself into a crevasse and rescue your colleague), link travel (driving a 'caravan' of skidoos and sledges all linked together so if one slips into a crevasse the rest will essentially arrest its fall) and kit supply (down jackets, mountaineering boots and little tent booties).

Sledges Delta and Echo at Cavajal (from left: Tris, Mark, Jim and Drew)

Day One- Travel Day
   After a slightly shaky start on my part (multiple layers= minimal movement and maximum faff!), Mark and I set off on our skidoos from the base of the Ramp (our access to the rest of the island). We set off at 6:30am and dawn was slowly breaking. Hopes were high that the clear skies would let us through MacCallums Pass. After hitching up our sledges, we set off north before a left turn toward Trident and then down through the Pass. The Pass requires good contrast so that the lead skidoo can see if the crevasses that we have to cross are slumping or are still stable. Sledge Delta (Tris and Drew) were first there so lead on. We had to take the sledges separately, one skidoo ahead the other behind controlling it on the descent. Then unhitch at the bottom and back up to the top. It takes a couple of hours but after practice becomes well-rehearsed. Once through MacCallums, we headed west for a bit then rounded south and along the piedmont of western Adelaide Island. It was really cool to see the sea to the west. The weather was brilliant and we had a great journey. we arrived at the sledge drop-off point at about 4pm and eventually down into Cavajal by 5:30pm. Tris and Drew had set up already and so we all settled in having explored the base. The southern tip is home to a lot of wildlife with a majority of the local biomass being fur seals. They growl at you, occasionally chase and generally smell pretty bad, especially if there's lots of them!

Dawn over Rothera	Mark prepares for the drop down MacCallums Pass The lighter shade of the distant horizon shows the crevasses of the Shambles glacier.	Mount Gawdry with MacCallums Pass on the rightside of the picture.
At P Buttress after the Pass.	A quick break looking back at my skidoo and the link units.	Sunset at Cavajal

Day Two- Repair Day
  We rose with prospects of traveling north to the Myth. We'd started with a lazy day and a walk about the base, and a bit of seal watching. Then after lunch we headed up the ice slope with Drew and Tris to where are skidoos were parked. Alas, a skidoo had some mechanical issues that required time and attention. Not too disappointed in another night under solid roof, we fixed the problem and headed back down. Its quite funny watching all the fur seals.

Tris snaps the ardent explorer, Drew.	Cavajal from above.	Skidoo has problem!
Mark probes for crevasses on return from picking up spares box.	"I can't feel my fingers!"	"Now, where was that little piece?"

Day Three- Windy Day
   Well, Sod's Law would have it that the wind gets up to 40knots and we get stuck on base for another day. This time another walk up the slope to stock up on food. While we discussed who would get the stores from the sledges further up the hill, Tris noticed a big red ship on the horizon. As it happened the 'James Clark Ross' was on its furthest south east CTD point. It also happened that I had a VHF handheld in my bag so we got in touch to say hello. Then back down the hill for dinner and an early night.

Tris delights in Drew's cooking.	A Local!	Tris communicates with Rothera by Morse code, watched by Mark. (Photo taken using NightShot feature on video camera)

Day Four- Lucky Day
   The skies looked good, the seals smelt bad and we were itching for some activity so we bolted north making use of a window of weather. We planned to came on the west side of MacCallum's Pass, but good contrast beckoned us trough. we pitched camp at Trident West a good location for skiing, mountaineering and climbing.

Sledges Delta and Echo enjoy a coffee break.	Linking sledges and skiddos for the push up the far side of MacCallum's	Pitching the traditional Pyramid tent.

Day Five- Beautiful Day
   The day did not look so good at the start with poor contrast. Contrast is essentially governed by sunshine, and allows dips in the snow to be visible. No contrast means you essentially see white, with no definition. This means crevasses cannot be easily seen. So it was decided that we'd climb the peaks of Trident. When we reached the top the clouds parted and te sun shone. the wind picked up but views were beautiful and we had a great day.

First Peak	View to South East with Rothera left of centre	View to the west with MacCallum's Pass in centre.
Second Peak	Descencing off the second summit, with me leading.	Trident summits over Sledge Delta's tent.

Day Six- Birth Day
   After we got back to the tents the wind that had been lingering during the day became very prominent and overnight it had built to over 40 knots. We all crammed into a tent swapped stories and chatted with a wee tipple of whisky. Getting back to the tent was interesting and we settled. This morning, we were still being buffeted by the winds, and hope of heading back to Rothera was suspect. The vided link hopefully gives a good impression. (link soon)
   Drew and Tris made use of window but mark thought it would be best to stay. So my birthday was in a tent which isn't much different to most other birthdays of past when I was on Annual Camp with my old UOTC unit. Anyway, we chatted, read and tried some puzzles of a puzzle book from my folks. I did have some birthday cards so it was quite fun reading them.

Our tent with blown snow drifting in.	Drew and Tris contemplate moving	Birthday Boy!

Day Seven- Fri Day
   Woke up to windy tent again, and that's nothing to do with the balti Mark cooked for dinner. Then suddenly just before the wind died and we could see Rothera and so we packed up and went for it. Enough sat in a steamy washing machine!

When snow drifts, it really drifts!	Mark packs the full unit (it is an art!)	Ready for the off!
Proud of me trusty 'stead'!	home sweet home!	Mark is overjoyed to be home and no more bad jokes from Jim!