Image of “Sparky” at Shackleton Glacier Camp on the day we deployed to Mt. Wisting. “Sparky” was on the same LC-130 flight as us from McMurdo and was the last skidoo to be delivered to Mt. Wisting.

 

Looks like today is going to be a tent day. The winds are very calm and it is actually snowing ever so lightly. We may scoot out to cover a tiny patch of blue ice near by we haven’t searched yet but Prestrud is off the table for today. With a thick wall of clouds overhead and more moving in per word from John, the lighting is not sufficient to make the trek to Prestrud and cross the heavily crevassed Norway Glacier.
I mentioned in a earlier blog post the name “Sparky” for my skidoo and promised to elaborate further. I thought I’d take the opportunity to do so now being our first full/partial tent day. I’ll post again this evening the first episode of “Cooking with James” after dinner with John and Ioannis tonight.
The name “Sparky” was coined by a Grade 2 class in my hometown of Norwich, ON, Canada. I visited their class, taught by my Grade 1 (or First Grade for those south of the border) teacher. I spoke briefly about where the team was going and what we were doing there then asked for their help to name the skidoo. There were a lot of ideas the kids presented but it ultimately came down to “Snowblaster” and “Sparky” (after Emily Stowe Public School Spartans). Sparky got the most “noise” from the class so that’s what we went with.
One ANSMET tradition is to add a sticker/decal to your skidoo or decorate it in some way. “Sparky” has some artwork saying it was called “Cosmo” in an earlier life and also has some meteor/meteorite-themed art on the rear snow flap. The final task I had for the Grade 2 class at Emily Stowe was to help me make the decal that’ll remain on “Sparky” for the foreseeable future. We printed off their school logo, glued it (flash back to elementary school art class!) it to some card stock and had them all write their names on the decal. My personal favourite was a student taking the “don’t write too big so that everyone has room” instructions quite literally to the point I could barely see/read their name. Priceless.
To Mrs. V’s class at ESPS in Norwich ON: thanks for your help naming and decorating “Sparky”! I’ll keep an eye out for Santa but hopefully he sticks to his home at the North Pole and doesn’t get lost all the way down here. See you in the spring! I hope you have lots of questions!
Posted by Scott from Mt. Wisting on 2017-12-19 at 13:30 local.