Merry Christmas everyone!
We arrived back in McMurdo on Saturday December 19, after being at WAIS Divide for almost 5 weeks. One of the coolest things was being the only 2 passengers on board the LC-130 and being able to sit up in the cockpit with the flight crew. I have added a picture looking out the window. What a great view and what a difference a few weeks makes. The sea ice close to McM is breaking up which means that the chance to see seals, penguins, and whales has improved! If that’s not a reason to come back to McM I don’t know what is! Oh, actually I do…it’s to not have to sleep in a tent when it’s 0 degrees outside! That’s right, we’re back to civilization and in a dorm now where there will be no sleeping in tents. That is at least until we go out for day trips or a couple of night trips to work in the Dry Valleys or elsewhere on this lovely continent. So far it has been McM and the flat, white of WAIS. It will be very exciting to be able to get on a helicopter and get to work where it is more scenic.
Let me update you on the last couple of weeks here in Antarctica and mainly at WAIS. When I wrote previously I had told you about WAIS, what was going on there and some of the projects I had been working on. Since then, ICDS (Ice Core Drilling Services) began their drilling season and thus far have been very successful. They added a piece to the drill that enables them to pull out a larger ice core each time they drill. Another carpenter and I had to take apart and reassemble part of the catwalk above the 36 foot deep trench so the added part to the drill would fit and not hit anything. That was quite an assignment, but we got it done and it looked great. They had been averaging around 2.7 meters or so in previous seasons and now are getting ice cores around 3.2 meters long. This is all very exciting for the drillers and the ice core handlers. Pictures are attached showing the ice cores. They are about 1650 meters down into the ice and have gone back in time to about 8200 BC. They even got to a layer of volcanic ash. This layer was from a volcano which erupted about 7800 BC just east of WAIS and I have a picture showing where the ash layer is.
As for me, I was able to assist NICL (National Ice Core Laboratory) for a day. We brought up some ice cores from the basement they keep them in in the arch and got them ready for shipping back to Denver. It was actually quite a nerve racking experience as when all is said and done with the cores each one is going to be worth around $40,000! Can you believe it???!!! It was a very fluid and smooth process moving each individual core without having human hands ever touch them. What a fun time!
I also put some of my newly acquired carpentry skills to work and made a small bookshelf for the control room on the drill side of the arch, a small box-like platform for the NICL side to use to transfer ice cores, and also a small wooden instrument for NICL to use to draw straight lines in the ice cores. It was a daunting task as I was used to being someone’s assistant and seeing as how all of the other carpenters by this time had gone back to McM, and Eric was doing his own work, I was left alone to complete these tasks. In the end and with Eric’s support and confidence in me, they turned out great. They were only a few tears shed Another GA and I put our shoveling skills to use and we shoveled at least 500 pounds of hard snow and ice off of the top of a fan room outside the arch. Pictures of some of the things I built as well as the finished task of shoveling are added as well.
The last couple weeks were great at WAIS and it was bittersweet to come back to McM. The people there were wonderful, the food was great, and it was just a small family-like community where just like “Cheers”, everybody knew your name. But like a quote I came upon in a book I’m reading, I too am willing and able to live my life to the fullest and seek out new adventures whatever and wherever they may be. The quote is from “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer. “The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
Eric and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas,a healthy and Happy New 2010 and may you find and experience a new world of adventures in the year to come!
Love,
Erika
P.S. As I’m writing this there are huge snow flakes falling outside. I think we have a pretty good chance of having a white Christmas here!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Hello from WAIS Divide!
Hello again!
Yes, we are still here in Antarctica. I haven’t (yet that is) hopped on a plane to a warmer climate. Although that is sounding pretty enticing right about now. How about somewhere in the Caribbean perhaps?? Anyways, for now we are at WAIS Divide field camp. We finally arrived on December 18 after 2 long weeks of trying and just this week internet was up and running. So I am going to do my best to update y’all on what I’ve been up to these past few weeks.
WAIS Divide (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) is about 800 miles east of McMurdo, about 6000feet in elevation, and is the location for the drilling of a 10,000 foot ice core. We are here to support the scientists for this specific project along with other scientific research that is being done in and around this area. The idea for this specific ice core project began in 2000 with testing beginning in Greenland in 2005, which Eric was a part of. The actual drilling here began in 2007 and will continue for the next few of years. In studying the ice, the scientists want to learn about past climate conditions dating back 100,000 years ago and see how it has changed. It is quite a neat experience being here and learning about the science that is happening right in our backyard. Last Thursday I was able to assist in bringing some of the ice cores up from the freezer in the arch, where the drilling takes place, and get them ready for packing up and shipping out. It was -26 in the room we were in. Talk about chilly!!! I even got to get lowered into the trench where the drilling takes place and used a chainsaw to skim pieces of ice off of the walls so that the drill would fit better. I was in a box with pulleys and had a harness on, and it was a bit nerve-racking, but cool nonetheless!
But back to when we arrived. When we first got here there were 10 of us on the carpenter crew. Our main goal was to get all of the “buildings” up and running. Since early November the camp staff (10 of them) had only been using a couple of small modules that had been up since last year. We were in charge of putting together about 9 other buildings for various uses. 3 are berthing areas for people that don’t want to sleep in a tent, or transients that only stay a few days. One is the galley, one is a medical tent, another is the recreation tent, one for camps management offices and communications, and 2 for science. Some are quite old (called Jamesways) that were used during the Korean War and some are new which are called Rac Tents. Pictures are attached of what these look like. So that was the main push for the carpenters. We came and built most of the camp from the ground up. I can’t believe that all this is done every year and taken down as well. They were long days, but we had a great crew and an even better boss!
During the down time here there is a lot of visiting, playing cards (Texas Hold ‘Em, of course), resting, reading, eating etc. The cook staff takes excellent care of us and feeds us too well. They have to plan on around 4000 calories per person, per day due to the amount of energy we’re exerting working here. We had a wonderful spread for Thanksgiving along with 2 days off of work. That was the best. We had turkey and all the trimmings along with a friendly game of kickball thrown in. Eric and I even made 2 Texas pecan pies with pecans that his mom sent to us. Thanks again for those. Everyone devoured them! All in all it has been a great experience being here in the field. We are literally in the middle of nowhere but for the most part have quite a cozy set up. In all of the “buildings” there are diesel stoves that provide heat for us, which I find myself standing by quite a lot. But in our sleeping tents that is another story. Yes I’ve been winter (even though it’s summer here) camping for almost 3 weeks now. That is definitely my least favorite part. Getting into a freezing cold tent (usually around 10 degrees) at the end of a long day is not the most pleasant experience. But after getting all bundled up in my long underwear, flannel pajamas, flannel blanket, -40 rated mummy sleeping bag, another blanket on top, a hat on my head, gloves on my hands and neck gater on… I’m pretty warm. Oh, I also have my eye pad on because it’s 24/7 sun right now! I have been sleeping pretty well. It did take a few days to get used to the whole process of going to sleep. But now I’m sleeping soundly and in the morning the temperature has risen to between 65 and 70 degrees inside the tent. Too bad it’s not that temperature when I’m trying to go to bed!
Life is good here. I have had 3 showers in 2 and a half weeks and there are outhouses galore for everyone’s use. We do our best to stay clean and fresh smelling. We are being well taken care of and enjoy having only between 20-50 people or so at a time here. Very different from the 1100 in McMurdo. We’ll be back in McM in a couple weeks should all go well with the drilling. We’ll return to the carp shop with hopefully some day trips to other areas of Antarctica. They are set to start this year’s drilling next week. I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season. My love to you and yours!
Love,
Erika
Yes, we are still here in Antarctica. I haven’t (yet that is) hopped on a plane to a warmer climate. Although that is sounding pretty enticing right about now. How about somewhere in the Caribbean perhaps?? Anyways, for now we are at WAIS Divide field camp. We finally arrived on December 18 after 2 long weeks of trying and just this week internet was up and running. So I am going to do my best to update y’all on what I’ve been up to these past few weeks.
WAIS Divide (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) is about 800 miles east of McMurdo, about 6000feet in elevation, and is the location for the drilling of a 10,000 foot ice core. We are here to support the scientists for this specific project along with other scientific research that is being done in and around this area. The idea for this specific ice core project began in 2000 with testing beginning in Greenland in 2005, which Eric was a part of. The actual drilling here began in 2007 and will continue for the next few of years. In studying the ice, the scientists want to learn about past climate conditions dating back 100,000 years ago and see how it has changed. It is quite a neat experience being here and learning about the science that is happening right in our backyard. Last Thursday I was able to assist in bringing some of the ice cores up from the freezer in the arch, where the drilling takes place, and get them ready for packing up and shipping out. It was -26 in the room we were in. Talk about chilly!!! I even got to get lowered into the trench where the drilling takes place and used a chainsaw to skim pieces of ice off of the walls so that the drill would fit better. I was in a box with pulleys and had a harness on, and it was a bit nerve-racking, but cool nonetheless!
But back to when we arrived. When we first got here there were 10 of us on the carpenter crew. Our main goal was to get all of the “buildings” up and running. Since early November the camp staff (10 of them) had only been using a couple of small modules that had been up since last year. We were in charge of putting together about 9 other buildings for various uses. 3 are berthing areas for people that don’t want to sleep in a tent, or transients that only stay a few days. One is the galley, one is a medical tent, another is the recreation tent, one for camps management offices and communications, and 2 for science. Some are quite old (called Jamesways) that were used during the Korean War and some are new which are called Rac Tents. Pictures are attached of what these look like. So that was the main push for the carpenters. We came and built most of the camp from the ground up. I can’t believe that all this is done every year and taken down as well. They were long days, but we had a great crew and an even better boss!
During the down time here there is a lot of visiting, playing cards (Texas Hold ‘Em, of course), resting, reading, eating etc. The cook staff takes excellent care of us and feeds us too well. They have to plan on around 4000 calories per person, per day due to the amount of energy we’re exerting working here. We had a wonderful spread for Thanksgiving along with 2 days off of work. That was the best. We had turkey and all the trimmings along with a friendly game of kickball thrown in. Eric and I even made 2 Texas pecan pies with pecans that his mom sent to us. Thanks again for those. Everyone devoured them! All in all it has been a great experience being here in the field. We are literally in the middle of nowhere but for the most part have quite a cozy set up. In all of the “buildings” there are diesel stoves that provide heat for us, which I find myself standing by quite a lot. But in our sleeping tents that is another story. Yes I’ve been winter (even though it’s summer here) camping for almost 3 weeks now. That is definitely my least favorite part. Getting into a freezing cold tent (usually around 10 degrees) at the end of a long day is not the most pleasant experience. But after getting all bundled up in my long underwear, flannel pajamas, flannel blanket, -40 rated mummy sleeping bag, another blanket on top, a hat on my head, gloves on my hands and neck gater on… I’m pretty warm. Oh, I also have my eye pad on because it’s 24/7 sun right now! I have been sleeping pretty well. It did take a few days to get used to the whole process of going to sleep. But now I’m sleeping soundly and in the morning the temperature has risen to between 65 and 70 degrees inside the tent. Too bad it’s not that temperature when I’m trying to go to bed!
Life is good here. I have had 3 showers in 2 and a half weeks and there are outhouses galore for everyone’s use. We do our best to stay clean and fresh smelling. We are being well taken care of and enjoy having only between 20-50 people or so at a time here. Very different from the 1100 in McMurdo. We’ll be back in McM in a couple weeks should all go well with the drilling. We’ll return to the carp shop with hopefully some day trips to other areas of Antarctica. They are set to start this year’s drilling next week. I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday season. My love to you and yours!
Love,
Erika
Friday, November 13, 2009
Oh the weather outside is frightful...
Hello everybody!
So here we are! At WAIS Divide, the field camp we were supposed to get to on November 5, you ask???? Why, no! We are still in McMurdo. The weather out at WAIS has not been good enough for us to land in. I guess I am very happy (as is my family) that they are so cautious about when we fly, but we're pushing 2 weeks with only a small sampling of clothes to wear. We had to do what they call "bag drag" a week ago this past Wednesday, so most of our belongings are strapped to a wooden board out on the ice runway. We can't get to them. So a few loads of laundry later and grinning and bearing it, here we are!
The past couple of weeks have been good. But everyday since Thursday, November 5 we have been getting up early to check the flight schedule. Okay... maybe just Eric has been getting up early, but he is nice enough to come and tell me whether the flight has been delayed or canceled. If it is delayed we stay on alert, watch for further flight information and then if it is canceled we then go to work. If not and this happened once this past Tuesday, we make our way out to the plane. We got on the plane, took off, then about 20 minutes into the flight, heard over the intercom,
"The visibility at WAIS has just decreased to a level that is unsafe to land. We are going back to McMurdo." Agghhhhhh! So frustrating. We almost made it. So 9 tries later we are still here now enjoying a condition 2 storm. High winds,(up to 60MPH) blowing snow and chilly. Some of the carp shop got the day off due to weather and that included me! So I decided to take the time and update y'all on what's been happening down here.
Life is still great here. Work is good, food is good and I've been learning a lot. This past week I was able to use a jig saw, belt sander, router, mag drill and auger. I made a #1 sign for a hut that needed to have the #16 put on it. We already had the 6. Pictures of it are on the side. I was very proud of it, as it was the first thing I made all by myself. I also got to help demo an old hut that was used for seal research. It took 2 days and a lot of work but was great to see it come down. We were able to take out some of our flight delay aggression out on it!
On Thursday I got to be a part of what they call an MCI drill. That stands for Mass Casualty Incident. It is in the event of an accident where there are more casualties than the small clinic here can handle. So we turn the fire station into a make shift hospital and bring all of the victims there. This again was just a drill, but it is taken very seriously. I have volunteered for the stretcher bearer team, so was able to go out to the scene of the accident and assist as needed. The scenario was 2 vehicles had collided and there were 18 victims. When I got there I was asked by a firefighter to assist him with a "victim" that had a neck injury. We got his head secured with tape and I sat by his side for 30 minutes talking to him and making sure he stayed with me asking him pertinent questions etc. It was a very neat experience and I was so glad that so may people took it so seriously. It really felt quite real. The victims had fake blood on and everything.
Saturday was great. I had the day off, Eric's still went to work at the carp shop, and we have today off as well. Last night we went to the Banff Film Festival where they had various short films as well as a long one for our viewing pleasure. Lots of mountain biking, mountain climbing, cliff jumping (I'm talking up to 100 feet, not the cliffs at Lake Travis), and walking across a rope tied to two cliffs with nothing but hundreds of feet below them. Wow! And I thought I was being adventurous! Great films and we were lucky to have them down here.
We will try for the 10th time to get to WAIS tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. Enjoy the new pictures, e-mail if you have a chance and thanks again for joining me on this journey!
Love from Antarctica,
Erika
P.S. Go to http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm for a live weather camera of McMurdo Station and to learn more about the US Antarctic Program.
So here we are! At WAIS Divide, the field camp we were supposed to get to on November 5, you ask???? Why, no! We are still in McMurdo. The weather out at WAIS has not been good enough for us to land in. I guess I am very happy (as is my family) that they are so cautious about when we fly, but we're pushing 2 weeks with only a small sampling of clothes to wear. We had to do what they call "bag drag" a week ago this past Wednesday, so most of our belongings are strapped to a wooden board out on the ice runway. We can't get to them. So a few loads of laundry later and grinning and bearing it, here we are!
The past couple of weeks have been good. But everyday since Thursday, November 5 we have been getting up early to check the flight schedule. Okay... maybe just Eric has been getting up early, but he is nice enough to come and tell me whether the flight has been delayed or canceled. If it is delayed we stay on alert, watch for further flight information and then if it is canceled we then go to work. If not and this happened once this past Tuesday, we make our way out to the plane. We got on the plane, took off, then about 20 minutes into the flight, heard over the intercom,
"The visibility at WAIS has just decreased to a level that is unsafe to land. We are going back to McMurdo." Agghhhhhh! So frustrating. We almost made it. So 9 tries later we are still here now enjoying a condition 2 storm. High winds,(up to 60MPH) blowing snow and chilly. Some of the carp shop got the day off due to weather and that included me! So I decided to take the time and update y'all on what's been happening down here.
Life is still great here. Work is good, food is good and I've been learning a lot. This past week I was able to use a jig saw, belt sander, router, mag drill and auger. I made a #1 sign for a hut that needed to have the #16 put on it. We already had the 6. Pictures of it are on the side. I was very proud of it, as it was the first thing I made all by myself. I also got to help demo an old hut that was used for seal research. It took 2 days and a lot of work but was great to see it come down. We were able to take out some of our flight delay aggression out on it!
On Thursday I got to be a part of what they call an MCI drill. That stands for Mass Casualty Incident. It is in the event of an accident where there are more casualties than the small clinic here can handle. So we turn the fire station into a make shift hospital and bring all of the victims there. This again was just a drill, but it is taken very seriously. I have volunteered for the stretcher bearer team, so was able to go out to the scene of the accident and assist as needed. The scenario was 2 vehicles had collided and there were 18 victims. When I got there I was asked by a firefighter to assist him with a "victim" that had a neck injury. We got his head secured with tape and I sat by his side for 30 minutes talking to him and making sure he stayed with me asking him pertinent questions etc. It was a very neat experience and I was so glad that so may people took it so seriously. It really felt quite real. The victims had fake blood on and everything.
Saturday was great. I had the day off, Eric's still went to work at the carp shop, and we have today off as well. Last night we went to the Banff Film Festival where they had various short films as well as a long one for our viewing pleasure. Lots of mountain biking, mountain climbing, cliff jumping (I'm talking up to 100 feet, not the cliffs at Lake Travis), and walking across a rope tied to two cliffs with nothing but hundreds of feet below them. Wow! And I thought I was being adventurous! Great films and we were lucky to have them down here.
We will try for the 10th time to get to WAIS tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. Enjoy the new pictures, e-mail if you have a chance and thanks again for joining me on this journey!
Love from Antarctica,
Erika
P.S. Go to http://www.usap.gov/videoclipsandmaps/mcmwebcam.cfm for a live weather camera of McMurdo Station and to learn more about the US Antarctic Program.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Introducing Erika "The Tool Girl" Bribiesca
Well hello again!
It has been 2 weeks since the last time I wrote and wanted to update y'all on life here. The week before last brought a condition 2 storm. We even got to leave work early. Woo hoo!! A condition 2 storm is defined as when any one of the following happens: Wind speed is greater than 53 mph but less than or equal to 60 mph, or visibility is greater than 100 feet but less than or equal to 1/4 mile, or windchill temperature is greater than -100°F but less than or equal to -75°F. Quite a blustery day! The wind actually picked me up off of my feet and I landed on the ground hard! But I was okay. Eric was there to pick me up, but he wasn't quick enough to catch me. It just threw me for a loop. The strongest recorded wind gust so far this season was 78 mph! Eric says that this is some of the more typical weather at WAIS Divide and to pretty much get used to it. We should be heading there this week depending on weather. The Put-In crew hasn't even left yet for WAIS and they don't want us (the carpenter Put-In crew) to come for 3 days after they've arrived so they can groom the runway. They are about a week and a half behind schedule. We'll see what this week brings. Pray for lift off.
I do have some fun news for this past week though. I was able to do some actual carpentry work up at the shop. I assisted a carpenter in making a bookshelf as well as cut up some plywood boards to lay down as flooring. I used a table saw, circular saw and a router!!! Can you beleive it? I even got to wear a tool belt with tools in it and everything. It was quite heavy but as a few of the carps have called me "Muscles," I seemed to have done okay with it. I've always said that I'm stronger than I look. So that was quite a fun couple of days for me. I'm still learning a lot, a little more everyday and having a great time.
One thing I did forget to mention last time I wrote has to do with Happy Camper. That was the 2 day outside "Survivor" style course that everyone down here has to partake in. So during the introductions of about 20 of us, 3 people who worked with the BBC introduced themselves. It turns out that they are down here filming a series called "Frozen Planet." It's the same team that brought us the very popular "Planet Earth" series that Sir David Attenborough narrated. He will do the narration for this new series as well as possibly be here in McMurdo this coming January. My father is very jealous!
The six-part series will focus on life in the Arctic and Antarctic. The production team were interested to film a comprehensive record of the natural history of the polar regions, because climate change is affecting landforms such as glaciers, ice shelves, and the extent of sea ice. I was able to get to know one of the directors for the series named Dr. Chadden Hunter. Aside from being quite easy on the eyes (Eric knows that I think this and is fine with it :) ), he also presented a program for McMurdo showing us never before seen clips that will be in the series. It was fascinating and has added an additional level of "coolness" (pun intended) in being down here. The series is hoping to make it's premiere in Januray of 2011.
I wanted to give you a little bit of insight into a typical day for me down here in Antarctica:
6:30AM-7AM- Wake up at typically 7 because you know how I need my 9+ hours of sleep!
7:30AM-Report to the carp shop. Overalls (Carhartts) and all.
7:30AM-8AM- Morning meeting and stretching. After this I usually eat the breakfast snack that Eric is kind of enough to bring to the carp shop so I can sleep in another 45 minutes or so.
8AM-10AM-Work on whatever project they decide to put me on. For the first couple weeks this didn't even involve so much as a hammer.
10AM-10:15AM- Break, This usually involves eating fresh popcorn that the materials shop next door to us makes.
10:15AM-12:00PM- Continue working on whatever they tell me to.
12:00PM-1:00PM-Lunch with Eric
1:00PM-3:00PM-Continue with work
3:00PM-3:15PM- Break; Yeah!!
3:15PM-5:30PM- Finish up work for the day
5:30PM-6:30PM- Nap time!
6:30PM-8PM or so- Dinner time!
8PM-9/10PM- Rest, watch movie, go to the Coffee House and play cribbage and drink their yummy hot chocolate
9:30PM-10:30 PM- I'll be in bed anytime between these times. Good night!
I do this 6 days out of the week with Sundays off. On Sundays I do any or all of the following- sleep in, go to church, eat brunch, nap, read, catch up on the blog, take a hike, nap again, listen to a Science lecture, go to the coffee house, nap some more and get ready for another long work week. I've never enjoyed naps so much!
So thanks for continuing to read the blog. I should have some more interesting things to write about once we're at WAIS Divide. I'll let you know when we finally get there. I hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween and has a super Sunday!!
McMurdo facts:
71% males on base
29% females on base
1032 people in mcMurdo now
Good odds for females, not so great for the guys...
Average age here- approximately 36 years old
We recycle almost 60% of everything here.
Love,
Erika
It has been 2 weeks since the last time I wrote and wanted to update y'all on life here. The week before last brought a condition 2 storm. We even got to leave work early. Woo hoo!! A condition 2 storm is defined as when any one of the following happens: Wind speed is greater than 53 mph but less than or equal to 60 mph, or visibility is greater than 100 feet but less than or equal to 1/4 mile, or windchill temperature is greater than -100°F but less than or equal to -75°F. Quite a blustery day! The wind actually picked me up off of my feet and I landed on the ground hard! But I was okay. Eric was there to pick me up, but he wasn't quick enough to catch me. It just threw me for a loop. The strongest recorded wind gust so far this season was 78 mph! Eric says that this is some of the more typical weather at WAIS Divide and to pretty much get used to it. We should be heading there this week depending on weather. The Put-In crew hasn't even left yet for WAIS and they don't want us (the carpenter Put-In crew) to come for 3 days after they've arrived so they can groom the runway. They are about a week and a half behind schedule. We'll see what this week brings. Pray for lift off.
I do have some fun news for this past week though. I was able to do some actual carpentry work up at the shop. I assisted a carpenter in making a bookshelf as well as cut up some plywood boards to lay down as flooring. I used a table saw, circular saw and a router!!! Can you beleive it? I even got to wear a tool belt with tools in it and everything. It was quite heavy but as a few of the carps have called me "Muscles," I seemed to have done okay with it. I've always said that I'm stronger than I look. So that was quite a fun couple of days for me. I'm still learning a lot, a little more everyday and having a great time.
One thing I did forget to mention last time I wrote has to do with Happy Camper. That was the 2 day outside "Survivor" style course that everyone down here has to partake in. So during the introductions of about 20 of us, 3 people who worked with the BBC introduced themselves. It turns out that they are down here filming a series called "Frozen Planet." It's the same team that brought us the very popular "Planet Earth" series that Sir David Attenborough narrated. He will do the narration for this new series as well as possibly be here in McMurdo this coming January. My father is very jealous!
The six-part series will focus on life in the Arctic and Antarctic. The production team were interested to film a comprehensive record of the natural history of the polar regions, because climate change is affecting landforms such as glaciers, ice shelves, and the extent of sea ice. I was able to get to know one of the directors for the series named Dr. Chadden Hunter. Aside from being quite easy on the eyes (Eric knows that I think this and is fine with it :) ), he also presented a program for McMurdo showing us never before seen clips that will be in the series. It was fascinating and has added an additional level of "coolness" (pun intended) in being down here. The series is hoping to make it's premiere in Januray of 2011.
I wanted to give you a little bit of insight into a typical day for me down here in Antarctica:
6:30AM-7AM- Wake up at typically 7 because you know how I need my 9+ hours of sleep!
7:30AM-Report to the carp shop. Overalls (Carhartts) and all.
7:30AM-8AM- Morning meeting and stretching. After this I usually eat the breakfast snack that Eric is kind of enough to bring to the carp shop so I can sleep in another 45 minutes or so.
8AM-10AM-Work on whatever project they decide to put me on. For the first couple weeks this didn't even involve so much as a hammer.
10AM-10:15AM- Break, This usually involves eating fresh popcorn that the materials shop next door to us makes.
10:15AM-12:00PM- Continue working on whatever they tell me to.
12:00PM-1:00PM-Lunch with Eric
1:00PM-3:00PM-Continue with work
3:00PM-3:15PM- Break; Yeah!!
3:15PM-5:30PM- Finish up work for the day
5:30PM-6:30PM- Nap time!
6:30PM-8PM or so- Dinner time!
8PM-9/10PM- Rest, watch movie, go to the Coffee House and play cribbage and drink their yummy hot chocolate
9:30PM-10:30 PM- I'll be in bed anytime between these times. Good night!
I do this 6 days out of the week with Sundays off. On Sundays I do any or all of the following- sleep in, go to church, eat brunch, nap, read, catch up on the blog, take a hike, nap again, listen to a Science lecture, go to the coffee house, nap some more and get ready for another long work week. I've never enjoyed naps so much!
So thanks for continuing to read the blog. I should have some more interesting things to write about once we're at WAIS Divide. I'll let you know when we finally get there. I hope that everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween and has a super Sunday!!
McMurdo facts:
71% males on base
29% females on base
1032 people in mcMurdo now
Good odds for females, not so great for the guys...
Average age here- approximately 36 years old
We recycle almost 60% of everything here.
Love,
Erika
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Week in Review
Howdy everyone!
Wow what a week! So last time I wrote we had just arrived and had begun to settle in a bit, or as much as I could at least. Last Saturday Oct. 10 was the first day at work, mainly carpenter shop orienation and some training. There are around 70 people working in the Carp shop. Around 20 females and 50 males. Everybody is great, has varying levels of talents and seem to work well with others. Especially the small Texan who does not have much carp shop experience. But I am being taken under the wings of many and have been learning a lot! The first real day of work on Monday I did work orders, i.e. fixing broken door latches, installing toilet paper dispensers etc. Eric better watch out! He's going to be getting competition back in Austin! I also worked all day outside on putting together 10 boxes of Jamesways tents, which have ben used as shelters since the Korean War. This leads me to Tuesday at 5:30 PM.
I get off work and immediately head to bed. I have a 101.5 fever, chills, then hot sweats, a runny noise, sneezing fits, watery eyes, achy body... a whole lot of not very fun times. So I stayed in bed all the next day, having already called into work letting them know I wouldn't be there. During the whole time before, I was drinking plenty of fluids, or at least what I thought was plenty, washing my hands all the time and trying to stay generally healthy. But the bug found me. Eric sweetly brought me soup and crackers for dinner and put on Enya for me to listen to. What a nice boyfriend. So all day Wednesday I was in bed trying to get better. But I am much better now! I knew eventually I'd get sick down here, but didn't think it would be this soon.
On Thursday I helped do "Food Pulls" for WAIS Divide which is where I will be going for 6 to 8 weeks this season. It stands for West Antarctic Ice Sheet and is 800 miles west of McMurdo. They are drilling a 10,000 foot ice core there to study the earth's climate from 100,000 years back. Very intersting! Eric has been there twice and will be the carpenter foreman again this season. So I helped to get lots of the food that will be flown out there, packaged it up and got it ready to be mailed off. Made sure we had lots of chocolate! Although it was a lot of heavy lefting, it was a good, warm time inside which helped me to keep getting better.
Now that brings me to Friday and Saturday! So there is this camp called "Happy Camper" that all first year workers have to go to. Mine was this weekend. There were 20 of us that went out to the Ross Ice Shelf and went through a training course on how to survive out in the elements. We were very lucky as we had failry decent weather. Not much wind to speak of. Granted we slept outside in -27 temeratures but I managed to stay pretty warm inside my sleeping bag. We had to build shelters (one of them being a Quincy hut), use emergency kitchen gear, build ice walls, have buckets on our heads and try and find our instuctor (all of this to simulate a white out) and just in general survive. The key was to keep busy in order to stay warm and you would be fine. We certainly stayed busy. All in all it was a pretty good time. Not as bad as others made it out to be. But I was definitley happy to be done with it and to not have to do it again. I'll have some of the pictures labled from it so you can see what I am talking about.
So here are a few things that I've learned so far:
1. Static electricty runs rampant here. It seems that anything I touch shocks me. Sometimes even when you're not in the dark, the spark is so big that you can see it!
2. I've already gone through almost a bottle of lotion. My skin just soaks the stuff up. Again a testament to how dry it is here. I should have brought more lotion!
3. It's okay to want to go to bed at 8PM even when you don't have to wake up until 6AM. I am working my behind off here!
A few Facts about Antarctica:
1. It holds 70% of Earth's frehwater.
2. 98% of it is coverd in ice and snow.
3. It holds 90% of the world's ice.
4. The ice sheet is over 2 miles deep.
So that is my week in review! It feels like I have been here for 10 weeks. But it is really going very well. I'm meeting more and more great people, learning a lot and soaking up all that is the Antarctica experience. Until next time!
Love,
Erika
Wow what a week! So last time I wrote we had just arrived and had begun to settle in a bit, or as much as I could at least. Last Saturday Oct. 10 was the first day at work, mainly carpenter shop orienation and some training. There are around 70 people working in the Carp shop. Around 20 females and 50 males. Everybody is great, has varying levels of talents and seem to work well with others. Especially the small Texan who does not have much carp shop experience. But I am being taken under the wings of many and have been learning a lot! The first real day of work on Monday I did work orders, i.e. fixing broken door latches, installing toilet paper dispensers etc. Eric better watch out! He's going to be getting competition back in Austin! I also worked all day outside on putting together 10 boxes of Jamesways tents, which have ben used as shelters since the Korean War. This leads me to Tuesday at 5:30 PM.
I get off work and immediately head to bed. I have a 101.5 fever, chills, then hot sweats, a runny noise, sneezing fits, watery eyes, achy body... a whole lot of not very fun times. So I stayed in bed all the next day, having already called into work letting them know I wouldn't be there. During the whole time before, I was drinking plenty of fluids, or at least what I thought was plenty, washing my hands all the time and trying to stay generally healthy. But the bug found me. Eric sweetly brought me soup and crackers for dinner and put on Enya for me to listen to. What a nice boyfriend. So all day Wednesday I was in bed trying to get better. But I am much better now! I knew eventually I'd get sick down here, but didn't think it would be this soon.
On Thursday I helped do "Food Pulls" for WAIS Divide which is where I will be going for 6 to 8 weeks this season. It stands for West Antarctic Ice Sheet and is 800 miles west of McMurdo. They are drilling a 10,000 foot ice core there to study the earth's climate from 100,000 years back. Very intersting! Eric has been there twice and will be the carpenter foreman again this season. So I helped to get lots of the food that will be flown out there, packaged it up and got it ready to be mailed off. Made sure we had lots of chocolate! Although it was a lot of heavy lefting, it was a good, warm time inside which helped me to keep getting better.
Now that brings me to Friday and Saturday! So there is this camp called "Happy Camper" that all first year workers have to go to. Mine was this weekend. There were 20 of us that went out to the Ross Ice Shelf and went through a training course on how to survive out in the elements. We were very lucky as we had failry decent weather. Not much wind to speak of. Granted we slept outside in -27 temeratures but I managed to stay pretty warm inside my sleeping bag. We had to build shelters (one of them being a Quincy hut), use emergency kitchen gear, build ice walls, have buckets on our heads and try and find our instuctor (all of this to simulate a white out) and just in general survive. The key was to keep busy in order to stay warm and you would be fine. We certainly stayed busy. All in all it was a pretty good time. Not as bad as others made it out to be. But I was definitley happy to be done with it and to not have to do it again. I'll have some of the pictures labled from it so you can see what I am talking about.
So here are a few things that I've learned so far:
1. Static electricty runs rampant here. It seems that anything I touch shocks me. Sometimes even when you're not in the dark, the spark is so big that you can see it!
2. I've already gone through almost a bottle of lotion. My skin just soaks the stuff up. Again a testament to how dry it is here. I should have brought more lotion!
3. It's okay to want to go to bed at 8PM even when you don't have to wake up until 6AM. I am working my behind off here!
A few Facts about Antarctica:
1. It holds 70% of Earth's frehwater.
2. 98% of it is coverd in ice and snow.
3. It holds 90% of the world's ice.
4. The ice sheet is over 2 miles deep.
So that is my week in review! It feels like I have been here for 10 weeks. But it is really going very well. I'm meeting more and more great people, learning a lot and soaking up all that is the Antarctica experience. Until next time!
Love,
Erika
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The E's have landed!
Hello to everyone from McMurdo Station, Antarctica!
We arrived here this past Friday October 9 at 2 PM. That would have been 8 PM Texas time on Thursday. We got up at 5AM Friday morning, after no calls telling us that the flight was delayed, and headed to the USAP center. We loaded the plane around 8AM and flew 5 hours to McM. It was a non-eventful flight, just the way I like them. I even got to go up into the cockpit and meet the crew flying us. What a view! Speaking of views I wish you could have been with me as we got off the plane and stepped foot onto the coldest, driest and windiest continent on earth. It was about the most strange and out of body experience I have ever had. There was only 1 word to describe it, well okay maybe 2... surreal and COLD!!! A nice lady named Cynthia that Eric and I hung out with today told me I should name my blog "sureally cold." That would have been a good name!
Next we all took a bus to McM about 18 miles away from Pegasus White Ice Runway where we landed. It is called White Ice because the runway sits on about a 110 foot thick glaciated ice shelf with 3-4 inches of compacted snow on top, also known as white ice. So once we arrived in McM we had more briefings, got our room assignments, bedding and headed to Hotel California. Yes that is the name of the place we're staying. Very appropriate I would say! The view out of the window is stunning. It's overlooking lots of mountains and the ocean which of course is iced over right now, but is beautiful nontheless. Come January we will be able to see the actual ocean.
The town itself is about a quarter mile by a quarter mile. Everything is fairly compact and easy enough to get to. The dining area, laundry and general store is located in a bulding called 155 where we head to at least 3 times a day. The food is actually pretty good. I've had lasagna, chiken and mushroom pasta, steak, fresh fruits and veggies and today there was a Sunday brunch! Can you beleive it??? I had a made to order omlette, Belgian waffle and fresh fruit. It was tasty!
So our work week is 6 days a week, 10 hours a day (with 1 hour off for lunch) and is fairly brutal. My first day of work was yesterday at the Carpenter shop. Technically my title is FEMC GA with the carp shop. That stands for Facilities Engineering Maintenance Construction general assistant. So here I am at 7:30 in the morning doing YOGA with a bunch of carpenters and suddenly realizing that this is really happening. The whole day is more orientation, getting our tools (Yes I have tools. Watch out!) and familiarizing ourselves with the shop. There were just 6 of us new kids on the block doing this orientation. The rest of the 60 or so others had already begun their work for the day, making outhouses for field camps and knowing exactly what they should be doing. So all in all it was a good day, a bit overwhelming but I'm doing well considering where I am and what I'm doing. But I am going to live in the present, one day at a time and enjoy what I have been blessed with.
We have lots of opportunities to learn about what is going on down here which is really great. Right now we're off to have a tour of a lab that will explain some of the scientific research that is going on here. Should be interesting. It is 12 degrees with a wind gust of 30 mph here. That makes it have a wind chill of -12. Yikes! I hope all is well and warm where you are.
Love,
Erika
We arrived here this past Friday October 9 at 2 PM. That would have been 8 PM Texas time on Thursday. We got up at 5AM Friday morning, after no calls telling us that the flight was delayed, and headed to the USAP center. We loaded the plane around 8AM and flew 5 hours to McM. It was a non-eventful flight, just the way I like them. I even got to go up into the cockpit and meet the crew flying us. What a view! Speaking of views I wish you could have been with me as we got off the plane and stepped foot onto the coldest, driest and windiest continent on earth. It was about the most strange and out of body experience I have ever had. There was only 1 word to describe it, well okay maybe 2... surreal and COLD!!! A nice lady named Cynthia that Eric and I hung out with today told me I should name my blog "sureally cold." That would have been a good name!
Next we all took a bus to McM about 18 miles away from Pegasus White Ice Runway where we landed. It is called White Ice because the runway sits on about a 110 foot thick glaciated ice shelf with 3-4 inches of compacted snow on top, also known as white ice. So once we arrived in McM we had more briefings, got our room assignments, bedding and headed to Hotel California. Yes that is the name of the place we're staying. Very appropriate I would say! The view out of the window is stunning. It's overlooking lots of mountains and the ocean which of course is iced over right now, but is beautiful nontheless. Come January we will be able to see the actual ocean.
The town itself is about a quarter mile by a quarter mile. Everything is fairly compact and easy enough to get to. The dining area, laundry and general store is located in a bulding called 155 where we head to at least 3 times a day. The food is actually pretty good. I've had lasagna, chiken and mushroom pasta, steak, fresh fruits and veggies and today there was a Sunday brunch! Can you beleive it??? I had a made to order omlette, Belgian waffle and fresh fruit. It was tasty!
So our work week is 6 days a week, 10 hours a day (with 1 hour off for lunch) and is fairly brutal. My first day of work was yesterday at the Carpenter shop. Technically my title is FEMC GA with the carp shop. That stands for Facilities Engineering Maintenance Construction general assistant. So here I am at 7:30 in the morning doing YOGA with a bunch of carpenters and suddenly realizing that this is really happening. The whole day is more orientation, getting our tools (Yes I have tools. Watch out!) and familiarizing ourselves with the shop. There were just 6 of us new kids on the block doing this orientation. The rest of the 60 or so others had already begun their work for the day, making outhouses for field camps and knowing exactly what they should be doing. So all in all it was a good day, a bit overwhelming but I'm doing well considering where I am and what I'm doing. But I am going to live in the present, one day at a time and enjoy what I have been blessed with.
We have lots of opportunities to learn about what is going on down here which is really great. Right now we're off to have a tour of a lab that will explain some of the scientific research that is going on here. Should be interesting. It is 12 degrees with a wind gust of 30 mph here. That makes it have a wind chill of -12. Yikes! I hope all is well and warm where you are.
Love,
Erika
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Arrival in Christchurch
Hello everyone!
I write to you from the Travel Center at the USAP(United States Antarctic Program) in Christchurch, NZ. We landed yesterday afternoon Wed. Oct. 7 at 1PM from Sydney. That would have been around 5 PM on Tues. Oct 6 or so Austin, TX time. Man... losing a day is such a crazy thing. We had an almost 15 hour flight to Sydney with not much sleep, a couple of weird documentaries and a viewing of "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock. But all in all it wasn't that bad. It was a nice flight on a 747 with personal tv's and "On Demand" movies. I think Eric watched "Star Trek" and "The Hangover." The meals were quite tasty as well. I highly recommend transcontinental flights for the food alone. There are around 100 of us traveling together with Raytheon and shall I just say many interesting and different types of personalities. This is going to be fun!
So we are now here on the South Island of NZ (There are 2 islands, North and South. Hey this is also an education for you too, right??), staying at a nice place called Thomas Hotel for a couple nights. The plan is to get up around 4:30 AM tomorrow for an ice flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It will be about a 4 hour flight on a C-17 for all of you Military buffs. This all is of course weather permitting. We just got done at the CDC, (no I haven't contracted any strange disease, it actually stands for Clothing Distribution Center,) where I tried on about 50 pounds worth of ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear (Are you staying with me on all of the acronyms??? There will be more to come people!!) I have carharts galore, gloves, huge boots, parkas, windbreakers and let's not forget the long underwear. Antarctica here I come!
So hopefully when I write again it will be from McMurdo and will be able to download some pictures for you to see me in all my glory in Antarctica! I send lots of love and warm thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere and will write agin soon!
Love,
Erika
P.S. I will put on the blog next time information on where to mail things to me in Antarctica to those of you who have asked. Thanks!
I write to you from the Travel Center at the USAP(United States Antarctic Program) in Christchurch, NZ. We landed yesterday afternoon Wed. Oct. 7 at 1PM from Sydney. That would have been around 5 PM on Tues. Oct 6 or so Austin, TX time. Man... losing a day is such a crazy thing. We had an almost 15 hour flight to Sydney with not much sleep, a couple of weird documentaries and a viewing of "The Proposal" starring Sandra Bullock. But all in all it wasn't that bad. It was a nice flight on a 747 with personal tv's and "On Demand" movies. I think Eric watched "Star Trek" and "The Hangover." The meals were quite tasty as well. I highly recommend transcontinental flights for the food alone. There are around 100 of us traveling together with Raytheon and shall I just say many interesting and different types of personalities. This is going to be fun!
So we are now here on the South Island of NZ (There are 2 islands, North and South. Hey this is also an education for you too, right??), staying at a nice place called Thomas Hotel for a couple nights. The plan is to get up around 4:30 AM tomorrow for an ice flight to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. It will be about a 4 hour flight on a C-17 for all of you Military buffs. This all is of course weather permitting. We just got done at the CDC, (no I haven't contracted any strange disease, it actually stands for Clothing Distribution Center,) where I tried on about 50 pounds worth of ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear (Are you staying with me on all of the acronyms??? There will be more to come people!!) I have carharts galore, gloves, huge boots, parkas, windbreakers and let's not forget the long underwear. Antarctica here I come!
So hopefully when I write again it will be from McMurdo and will be able to download some pictures for you to see me in all my glory in Antarctica! I send lots of love and warm thoughts from the Southern Hemisphere and will write agin soon!
Love,
Erika
P.S. I will put on the blog next time information on where to mail things to me in Antarctica to those of you who have asked. Thanks!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Am I really doing this????
Welcome everyone to my blog on all things Antarctica!! Really, seriously?? I guess there's no turning back now! So away we go!
I am writing this on my second day of orienatation in Denver, Colorado as I begin the journey to Antarctica. Getting handed $210 for meals and incidentals for the week is not a bad thing! But I now know a lot more about OSHA requirements and scaffolding than most!
We have 2 and a half days of training/orientation here and then will get on a plane tomorrow afternoon (Monday October 5)to head to LA. We will leave LA at 10:30 PM to head to Sydney on a 13 hour flight. 13 hours??!! Yikes! Lots of walking and exercising as much as possible I'm sure will be done on the floght. From Sydney we have a 3 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand and then will be there for a couple days. If all goes according to plan we will be "on the ice" as they call it, on Friday Octber 9. But from what we've been hearing, the weather at McMurdo Station has been so rough that only 1 flight has been able to land there. Some people have been in Christchurch for a week and a half. Although if I were to have to get "stuck" somewhere, New Zealand is not a bad place to have that happen. It is beautiful!
So all is well here as I have the afternoon free while Eric is at his Supervisor training. Will he ever be my supervisor I hear you asking? We'll see about that...
I know he'll be a great one, and I'll leave it at that! I'll write again once we're in Christchurch and have taken my allotted 1 hour nap after more than 24 hours of traveling! Really, that's what they recommend in order to get used to the time switch. We'll be 18 hours ahead of Texas time once we're in Antarctica! I hope that you will enjoy following me on this adventure as much as I am looking forward to keeping you posted on this crazy experience that I am about to begin.
Love to all!
Erika
I am writing this on my second day of orienatation in Denver, Colorado as I begin the journey to Antarctica. Getting handed $210 for meals and incidentals for the week is not a bad thing! But I now know a lot more about OSHA requirements and scaffolding than most!
We have 2 and a half days of training/orientation here and then will get on a plane tomorrow afternoon (Monday October 5)to head to LA. We will leave LA at 10:30 PM to head to Sydney on a 13 hour flight. 13 hours??!! Yikes! Lots of walking and exercising as much as possible I'm sure will be done on the floght. From Sydney we have a 3 hour flight to Christchurch, New Zealand and then will be there for a couple days. If all goes according to plan we will be "on the ice" as they call it, on Friday Octber 9. But from what we've been hearing, the weather at McMurdo Station has been so rough that only 1 flight has been able to land there. Some people have been in Christchurch for a week and a half. Although if I were to have to get "stuck" somewhere, New Zealand is not a bad place to have that happen. It is beautiful!
So all is well here as I have the afternoon free while Eric is at his Supervisor training. Will he ever be my supervisor I hear you asking? We'll see about that...
I know he'll be a great one, and I'll leave it at that! I'll write again once we're in Christchurch and have taken my allotted 1 hour nap after more than 24 hours of traveling! Really, that's what they recommend in order to get used to the time switch. We'll be 18 hours ahead of Texas time once we're in Antarctica! I hope that you will enjoy following me on this adventure as much as I am looking forward to keeping you posted on this crazy experience that I am about to begin.
Love to all!
Erika
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