Freezing-my-butt-off is getting closer to reality. I arrived in Christchurch the morning of 12 Nov. (still 11 Nov. in the US), and made my way to the hotel. Once ensconced in a room, I wandered down into the city center to grab lunch. The last time I was in Christchurch was for the 2008-2009 ANSMET season. This was my first look at the damage wrought by the series of earthquakes that hit in 2010-2011 and later. I almost do not recognize the city. While I had understood from news reports that damage to the city center had been extensive, I was not prepared for the degree of damage. Six years later and reconstruction is still going on all over.
Today I had a morning appointment at the Antarctic Clothing Distribution Center (hereafter, CDC) to view training videos (yeah!) and get my Extreme Cold Weather gear (hereafter, ECW gear). I’ve been through this before, so it didn’t take long. One of the things I noticed is that some ECW gear that came as a default back in 1997-1998 when I first went with ANSMET is no longer offered. I took the “bunny suit” that trip and regretted it. On subsequent trips I turned that sucker in and lightened my load. One essential piece of ECW gear (in my opinion) is the bear-paw mittens. They weren’t offered by default this time so I requested a pair. I never skidoo without them!
I ran into fellow ANSMET travelers John Schutt and Brian Rougeux in the CDC. They came in for training and ECW gear with a group after mine. It turns out, they had the commercial airline flight from Hades, got to Christchurch late, and went straight to the CDC from the airport. I’m hoping the Antarctic weather gods will feel that they have suffered enough and allow our flight to the ice to go off without a hitch tomorrow morning.
Sent from my cerebral cortex נשלח מקליפת המוח שלי.
-sent by Duck Mittlefehldt, who’s having a busier week than he wants.