Our schedule for today is quite full; we’re trying to take care of tasks more suitable for two days than one. The day began as it almost always does for ANSMET in McMurdo, with the group gathering for breakfast about 7:15 to confirm the day’s plans. Here’s how things went.
At 7:30 AM the group was in the Crary lab so the new folks in town could get their computers authorized for WiFi, and 15 minutes later they were on a safety tour of the building. They learned not to drink seawater or let the Faradays out of their cage.
8:15 AM found us up at the BFC where everyone was invited to inspect their sleep kits (sleeping bags, therma-rest-style pads, fleece liners, pillows, etc.). Good thing we did, too; somehow Alex’s sleep kit was frozen into a solid block, having gotten wet somehow. He got new stuff.
Alex, Minako and Jani listen intently while James shares some wisdom.
9:15 AM and it’s time for Snowmobile School! James Meinert taught the course which was basically an overview of all the parts we don’t want to fail. James has been a superb aid to our work, because under his tutelage we’ve had an absolute minimum of failures. We didn’t do any actual riding today; that’s for tomorrow’s shakedown. We did check out helmets though. It goes without saying that all ANSMET personnel wear a helmet whenever on a snowmobile. We’d wear two if we could.
About this time, I played a quiet practical joke. About half way through snowmobile school when the room was getting warm, I casually pulled up my sweater to reveal what looked like a tribal tattoo covering my entire right arm. Everyone tried really hard not to stare. I tried not to crack up. It was James who finally couldn’t handle it anymore, just stopping his lecture and saying “that just ain’t right- is that Henna”? I peeled off the sleeve and everyone laughed, some looking very relieved. Frankly I think I make a totally radical hipster biker guy. Maybe not.
Brian struggles with some problems. He was told there’d be no math.
At 10:30 AM we headed over to the food room above the Cargo floor at the BFC. each tent pair (myself and Alex, Jani and Minako, Brian and Jim) filled a box with a basic 24-hr food supply, plus a little more. I handed out samples of my personal blend of Trail Mix (rich in peanut brittle) and Tanka bars (buffalo bits for the discriminating connoisseur). Poor Brian was perplexed- first off he’s surrounded by food that he’s not supposed to eat yet, then he has to do math (“if Jim has two juice boxes and Alex has 4 juice boxes and Minako takes two away and Jani adds three more and Ralph drinks one when nobody is looking, how many candy bars did Jim hide?”)
After that we broke for lunch. Fried shrimp and french fries and corn chowder and carrots. yum!
At 1 pm the newbies went up to the field safety classroom for AFS (Antarctic Field Safety), the 3-hour referesher course that everyone (really everyone, even John Schutt) has to take. Brian and I already had it so we were excused. During the course they talk about cold injuries and other hazards, and go through the standard “survival bag” that accompanies most field parties and vehicles in Antarctica. The tents are different, the stoves are different, and the priorities are different for us, but we’ll point out these differences and correct the deficiencies in our own survival discussion later tonight. Unfortunately the AFS course ran over almost an hour, so that slowed us down.
About 4:45 pm we assembled at the BFC again to test stoves, pack kitchen boxes (pots, pans and utensils) and go through our safety backpacks (holding harnesses, first aid kits, climbing tools and a few other things). We finished that up, and…..
5:30 Dinner, yum! I had a Bahn Mi burger- evidently a thing in Vietnam? Whatever, it was delicious. And I had asparagus as my vegetable, so now my pee smells funny. That’s got to be against the treaty somehow.
7 pm- Our second safety lecture of the day, this time from Brian. This was an informal discussion about some of the specific things we care about in ANSMET that aren’t covered in AFS school; we focus on the defining specific risks we face and the actual procedures in case of emergency, rather than risk mitigation.
Talkin’ troubles- a discussion of the specific hazards facing ANSMET field parties.
At 8 pm I snuck out of that discussion and called John and Duck at Elephant Moraine. They sounded horrible (they both have chest colds) but the weather improved enough today for them to go out and do a little hunting. They said they got 11 meteorites, two of which they think are tiny stony-irons of some kind and another is a carbonaceous. They still have a lot of work ahead of them and they’re hoping for some fine weekend weather to finish it off. After that phone call I went over to weather (the forecast for our shakedown tomorrow is good) and then back to the safety discussion, which we finished up about 9 pm.
That’s it for today! We probably will not post anything to the blog tomorrow because we’ll be out of town, and sunday may be too busy. Don’t worry, we’ll be safe and having fun. We’ll post a review of the shakedown as soon as we can after we finish.
-posted by rph from mcmurdo