So today, turns out, there is the South Pole Marathon. note capitals. This is for all those people who feel like running 42km in temperatures between -25 and -40C, on snow. Which I would imagine is very similar to running on soft sand, at altitude. That would be probably be the fittest people I am ever likely to meet. I believe the winner came in at about 4 hours 3 minutes. I saw the second guy, at four and a half hours. Me not running the Sydney marathon, which is flat, temperate, and at sea level, seems pansy in comparison. So. Anyone want a running partner? Highly unfit but willing to improve. Elo? Lauren? Martha? keen? we could have an awesome international team happening....
Yesterday, the weather was ice crystals. I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded sharp and spiky. Turns out, it's just sparkly, and very very pretty. Also, it is perfect weather for a sundog. Up until yesterday, the only time I've ever seen that word is in the Terry Pratchett book dark side of the sun - Elo, you'll know what I mean. Turns out, it's not that. We saw a double sundog - think a circle of double rainbow, all the way round the sun - outside the dining room windows, raced outside to have a look at it, and discovered that it was reasonably pointless to try and look directly at the sun. I didn't have my brain on enough to take a photo, although I suspect there are much prettier ones on the interwebs anyway (try here) We also saw an almost-double-sun, the sun was up as high as it can get, but also looked like it was just rising. I remembered to take a photo this time - more importantly, I remembered I could reduce the exposure time, and actually got a photo that wasn't entirely white..
I figured I should actually mention the people I'm working with, too. We're on a joint project - us from UNSW make the power system that runs an observatory for some lovely fellas from the university of Arizona. It's a TeraHertz observatory, called HEAT. They are Craig, Abram (Abe), and David. Craig and Abram are somewhere around 40, David is I think around 25 - I haven't actually asked any of them. All three are really nice ( I suspect you'll here that a few more times in the next paragraph). Craig is the boss (heh), and is everything that a boss should be. He never criticises, he's always ready to help, he knows everything that's going on, and tells you, and he works silly hard, doesn't sleep, and is somehow always in a good mood. but mostly he's just really really really nice. He's about my height. His partner in crime is Abe, who is probably seven feet tall, longest legs I've ever seen (Craig reckons it's three of his steps to two of Abe's - I reckon it's probably more like two to one..), has a terrible sense of humour (the kind I like), and cheers us up by telling us such things as he has a box of truffles (the chocolate kind) waiting for him at home.. the only chocolate here other than the things the kitchen cooks are m&m's, which I think have often expired. David is a PhD student, beats me in every game of gin that we play, and for lack of a better description, is really nice. He does a bit of the programming and a bit of the electronics, and has a few sensors of his own going in, I believe. The only problem is that Craig and David are about the same height (heh. Craig David..), and when they are dressed in jeans, and the standard issue big red parka, goggles, beanie and face mask, it is a little difficult to tell them apart..
In terms of progress, today I finished the engine electroncis plate, and I think all there is left to do is to exchange the wavesculptor thermocouples on the engines, which will probably take an hour or so. Getting the old ones of will be some sort of magic trick, I think. After that, I thiink that the power generation system is done. Done, done and done-ski. There are a few experiments that UNSW would like to run, too, so those need to be checked and setup, but they are not vital to anything, really - more of a would be nice.
On that note, it looks like mild panic has set in, and Michael has asked Craig to extend the length of my stay. So I may be here a little while. I don't know how much longer as yet, possibly the 10th, possibly longer. I don't hugely see the point - I have had a whole lot of practise at making cables, but in the case that something does break, the majority of the people here are elec people with far more experience and knowledge than me. Unless there's something that I don't know about. So, on that note, I am just going to have a chat with Craig and see what the reason was :)
The other thing is that all the people here are friendly - I know I'm only here for a short time, so it's the honeymoon period, but I'm OK with that. I just want to write down their names so I don't forget.. - there's Nils and Dale, from the University of Colorado, who work on the South Pole Telescope. I haven't yet seen either of them grumpy - although most of my time in their company was spent being pleasantly drunk in McMurdo, waiting for our flights to here. Dale reminds me a little bit of solar car Jared. Best conversation was the one in which he (an American from California) declared that he didn't have an accent. Lots of fun. Also Brian, who's from a different uni, also starting with C, also working on the South Pole telescope. Sorry. Vague. Also lovely. A lot quieter than Dale.. :)
Adam, the welder, who enlightened me to the fact that there is a climbing gym here (yesterday, so I haven't been yet), and who will be playing in one of the bands at the new years eve shindig in the gym tonight.
Casey and her husband ( I can't remember his name, and it's been too long to ask.. argh...) who are seriously lovely. I'm guessing they're around my age. In real life, Casey studied a degree similar to social work, but it also sounded like it included a fair bit of psychology as well, and her husband is a civil engineer, specialising in structures. Before they came here, he was working on nuclear reactors. Here, they are kitchen/general staff. When they go back home (Colorado), the current plan is to buy a boat and learn to sail, and then come visit me in Sydney :) awesome, awesome people.
There is Guy, a 40-something French-Belgian, pronounced Gee (not jee), who works for a company that monitors seismic activity everywhere on earth, in the hopes of catching out unauthorised nuclear testing (I think. I'm probably oversimplifying). He works our summers down in Antarctica, and the northern hemisphere summers in alaska, greenland, the arctic etc. That seems to be a fairly common schedule for a lot of the people here.
Lee, I think is a grad student, possibly a postdoc, from Madison, Wisconsin (I'm learning a whole lot about US geography here, by the way), and works on various weather stations - he has never been here for longer than three days - except this time, and he's attempting to teach me how to play Cribbage. I THINK he's mentioned all the rules now. It's a bit like cricket really. lots of little tiny rules for specific situations.
Pretty sure there are a tonne more, who will be mentioned in time, when I remember names.
Alright. Done talking. (I know. Miracles never cease)
Ciao!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
South Pole!
Yo. I am not feeling particularly verbose, and I can't think of a huge amount to say, although when I'm not in front of a computer, I have heaps to say. So in the hope that this makes me remember what I meant to say:
Things of note, in no particular order
Actual view out of the dining room window (zoom in on the sign..!):
People here are just lovely.
Skidoo is a legitimate form of transport. I have had my skidoo training course, and one day when I don't feel guilty about it, I'm going to borrow one to ride the 500m from the station to where we work. heee!
The food is amAZINg. Sample menu :
and for dessert.. your choice of delicious apple pie and ice cream, these chocolate nut things that they made for christmas that taste like ferrerro (??) roche(????)s, etc.
There is also always fruit, and the know how to cook veggies properly.
They have a greenhouse! Salad last night was from there.
There is one kiwi, known as Kiwi Dave. He was absolutely stoked when we showed up with 2 more kiwis and 2 Australians..
We watched Mad Max 2 as a movie last night, and were informed (by an American) hat it was all filmed on the Spencer Highway. We're pretty sure she meant the Stuart Highway.
Our stuff all arrived yesterday. I've finished fixing the electronic boxes, for the yellow box (instrument module, runs all the experiments), and today I spent the day battling with the engine gear plate - the equivalent electronics rack for the engine module (green box). It was half designed by someone (I name no names) who didn't tell anyone his plans, didn't finish it, didn't start it until the night before we shipped, and didn't document anything. Not that I'm bitter. Actually, it's kind of fun, like a jigsaw puzzle. Except someone's got there before you and glued bits to the table that may or may not be in the right place. Anyway. Pretty sure I've got it sorted, and I should finish it tomorrow. Which, I believe, finishes off our electrical system, so we can test.
It is DRY. I didn't drink my usual glass of water at breakfast today, and I had a headache by lunchtime. All good now, but man! if you think a desert is bad!
They employ people on an interesting basis. There was one guy here who's been working for three summer seasons now. The first two were as a general assistant (cleaning), and then this one he's a welder. Which is what he's actually qualified for..
I have been to the South Pole. Both the ceremonial one with a few hundred flags, and the real one, with a geological marker and the US flag. On the first of Jan, they'll move the real one ten metres thataway ->, since the ice shelf that we are on is slowly moving.
Said ice shelf is approx 3km thick.
Satellite up time is: Great coverage 4-11am, intermittent coverage til 5.30pm, no coverage otherwise.
There is supposed to be a band and dancing in the gym on New Year's. Given that I think I'm still operating on Sydney time, my bedtime is about midnight, which suiits me fiiiiine.
We are playing lots of gin, to 100. My highest score currently is 95. I will win a game. I will...Dad, I'm slowly remembering all the things you told me....
When we arrived, the first room I found was this one, and I knew I was going to like this place..comfy chairs, a piano (keyboard) out of sight around the corner...and books!
Also: This is a later edit. I don't know if I've put this in another blog post or an email, but.. SOUTH POLE!
I think that is all I can think of at the moment, and the satellite goes down in about three minutes, so..
byeee!
Things of note, in no particular order
Actual view out of the dining room window (zoom in on the sign..!):
People here are just lovely.
Skidoo is a legitimate form of transport. I have had my skidoo training course, and one day when I don't feel guilty about it, I'm going to borrow one to ride the 500m from the station to where we work. heee!
The food is amAZINg. Sample menu :
and for dessert.. your choice of delicious apple pie and ice cream, these chocolate nut things that they made for christmas that taste like ferrerro (??) roche(????)s, etc.
There is also always fruit, and the know how to cook veggies properly.
They have a greenhouse! Salad last night was from there.
There is one kiwi, known as Kiwi Dave. He was absolutely stoked when we showed up with 2 more kiwis and 2 Australians..
We watched Mad Max 2 as a movie last night, and were informed (by an American) hat it was all filmed on the Spencer Highway. We're pretty sure she meant the Stuart Highway.
Our stuff all arrived yesterday. I've finished fixing the electronic boxes, for the yellow box (instrument module, runs all the experiments), and today I spent the day battling with the engine gear plate - the equivalent electronics rack for the engine module (green box). It was half designed by someone (I name no names) who didn't tell anyone his plans, didn't finish it, didn't start it until the night before we shipped, and didn't document anything. Not that I'm bitter. Actually, it's kind of fun, like a jigsaw puzzle. Except someone's got there before you and glued bits to the table that may or may not be in the right place. Anyway. Pretty sure I've got it sorted, and I should finish it tomorrow. Which, I believe, finishes off our electrical system, so we can test.
It is DRY. I didn't drink my usual glass of water at breakfast today, and I had a headache by lunchtime. All good now, but man! if you think a desert is bad!
They employ people on an interesting basis. There was one guy here who's been working for three summer seasons now. The first two were as a general assistant (cleaning), and then this one he's a welder. Which is what he's actually qualified for..
I have been to the South Pole. Both the ceremonial one with a few hundred flags, and the real one, with a geological marker and the US flag. On the first of Jan, they'll move the real one ten metres thataway ->, since the ice shelf that we are on is slowly moving.
Said ice shelf is approx 3km thick.
Satellite up time is: Great coverage 4-11am, intermittent coverage til 5.30pm, no coverage otherwise.
There is supposed to be a band and dancing in the gym on New Year's. Given that I think I'm still operating on Sydney time, my bedtime is about midnight, which suiits me fiiiiine.
We are playing lots of gin, to 100. My highest score currently is 95. I will win a game. I will...Dad, I'm slowly remembering all the things you told me....
When we arrived, the first room I found was this one, and I knew I was going to like this place..comfy chairs, a piano (keyboard) out of sight around the corner...and books!
Also: This is a later edit. I don't know if I've put this in another blog post or an email, but.. SOUTH POLE!
I think that is all I can think of at the moment, and the satellite goes down in about three minutes, so..
byeee!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Good old Murphy
So we arrived in McMurdo base (where we are now) on the 14th of December. We were only here in order to do the training and safety courses so that we could go to the Pole and to Ridge A, and were scheduled to fly out on the 20th. In general, the weather is fairly chancy, and for a flight to go ahead, it has to be good at three places - where you start, where you finish, and a backup landing strip somewhere else.
We are scientists, which means that we are low priority. Which is entirely fair enough.. how many scientists do you know that could happily keep an isolated base in the Antarctic running smoothly? So we got bumped from our 20th flight, to the 21st. The 21st flight then got cancelled (bad weather at the pole), and we were then made the backup flight for the 22nd. Keep in mind that each day involves stripping your bed, and carting all of your crap up to the busstop by 6.45am). This is a bit annoying, but fairly par for the course, so it's not a big deal.
We were the backup flight on the 22nd and 23rd, which means that if one of the other scheduled flights can't fly, for whatever reason, then we get to go. On the 22nd that meant we couldn't really do much til the evening because you get told 'check in two hours'... starting at 6am. On the 23rd, it started off well.. with my roommates flight being cancelled... so we had half a chance.. I think around 9am, we all got a phone call saying 'your flight's been activated, you need to be here in 15 minutes'.. most of us were asleep at that point I think, but I think we probably set a record for the 200m sprint carrying all your crap event. We made it to the airport, and onto the plane (A C130, for those interested parties). We apparently made it through the pre-flight check, because the plane started taxi-ing (??) up to the runway.. and then turned around and came back.. a part of the navigation system wasn't working. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we found out the part had to be driven in from town, and would be about an hour. After another hour or so, we found that the truck carrying the part had broken down on the way in, and after some more waiting, during which the part had actually arrived, we found out that the airforce crew of our plane had exceeded their working hours, and couldn't fly us. Sooo back in the truck, back to town. I have to say, the airforce guys were pretty damn awesome, and when they knew something, so did we. Which was very nice.
Things worth noting.. our trip in and our of town is about an hour and a bit to the airfield, on a 1960's delta. These things are a cross between awesome and hilarious. They are big and slow and bumpy as buggery. The drivers do damn well to get them in and out of town, in my opinion. They are square. A little square head where the driver sits, and a big box on the back where the passengers sit. The wheels are taller than me (not that hard..). It looks like a robot ant, but BIG.
We got back after hours on the 23rd, and everyone had shut down for the holidays. Including the people that had the keys to our room, and sheets for our beds and so on.. Thankfully, one of the guys in the other group (Nils) had been on the truck before us, and had the presence of mind to let the relevant people know that we were still coming back, and had sorted out our keys and laundry for us, because he is a legend. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the science library, with it's wireless internet (that department had shut for the holidays already), so photos of our adventure will have to wait. Jim, I have many photos of aeroplanes. I didn't take the best one, of the engineers lying on their backs underneath the plane, undoing bits with a screwdriver. I think Michael did, so have a look on his blog.
Following all that, we ate dinner and a fairly disappointed bunch of people went drinking. I will, at a later date, explain all of the fun things that we are missing at the South Pole, and so the necessity of alcohol :) Turns out, there is very little that beer, a foozball table, air hockey, a pack of cards, and good company can't cure, so all is good.
Today I think I'm going to go for a wander back up Observation Hill and the long way back home, because it's a beautiful day outside, then I will perhaps check out the climbing gym and see how many muscles I've lost, and then I will go and do jigsaw puzzles inside without feeling guilty :) I do believe that covers everything.
I hope y'all are well, and are having a wOnDERful christmas and holidays!
Cheers,
Yael
We are scientists, which means that we are low priority. Which is entirely fair enough.. how many scientists do you know that could happily keep an isolated base in the Antarctic running smoothly? So we got bumped from our 20th flight, to the 21st. The 21st flight then got cancelled (bad weather at the pole), and we were then made the backup flight for the 22nd. Keep in mind that each day involves stripping your bed, and carting all of your crap up to the busstop by 6.45am). This is a bit annoying, but fairly par for the course, so it's not a big deal.
We were the backup flight on the 22nd and 23rd, which means that if one of the other scheduled flights can't fly, for whatever reason, then we get to go. On the 22nd that meant we couldn't really do much til the evening because you get told 'check in two hours'... starting at 6am. On the 23rd, it started off well.. with my roommates flight being cancelled... so we had half a chance.. I think around 9am, we all got a phone call saying 'your flight's been activated, you need to be here in 15 minutes'.. most of us were asleep at that point I think, but I think we probably set a record for the 200m sprint carrying all your crap event. We made it to the airport, and onto the plane (A C130, for those interested parties). We apparently made it through the pre-flight check, because the plane started taxi-ing (??) up to the runway.. and then turned around and came back.. a part of the navigation system wasn't working. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we found out the part had to be driven in from town, and would be about an hour. After another hour or so, we found that the truck carrying the part had broken down on the way in, and after some more waiting, during which the part had actually arrived, we found out that the airforce crew of our plane had exceeded their working hours, and couldn't fly us. Sooo back in the truck, back to town. I have to say, the airforce guys were pretty damn awesome, and when they knew something, so did we. Which was very nice.
Things worth noting.. our trip in and our of town is about an hour and a bit to the airfield, on a 1960's delta. These things are a cross between awesome and hilarious. They are big and slow and bumpy as buggery. The drivers do damn well to get them in and out of town, in my opinion. They are square. A little square head where the driver sits, and a big box on the back where the passengers sit. The wheels are taller than me (not that hard..). It looks like a robot ant, but BIG.
We got back after hours on the 23rd, and everyone had shut down for the holidays. Including the people that had the keys to our room, and sheets for our beds and so on.. Thankfully, one of the guys in the other group (Nils) had been on the truck before us, and had the presence of mind to let the relevant people know that we were still coming back, and had sorted out our keys and laundry for us, because he is a legend. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the science library, with it's wireless internet (that department had shut for the holidays already), so photos of our adventure will have to wait. Jim, I have many photos of aeroplanes. I didn't take the best one, of the engineers lying on their backs underneath the plane, undoing bits with a screwdriver. I think Michael did, so have a look on his blog.
Following all that, we ate dinner and a fairly disappointed bunch of people went drinking. I will, at a later date, explain all of the fun things that we are missing at the South Pole, and so the necessity of alcohol :) Turns out, there is very little that beer, a foozball table, air hockey, a pack of cards, and good company can't cure, so all is good.
Today I think I'm going to go for a wander back up Observation Hill and the long way back home, because it's a beautiful day outside, then I will perhaps check out the climbing gym and see how many muscles I've lost, and then I will go and do jigsaw puzzles inside without feeling guilty :) I do believe that covers everything.
I hope y'all are well, and are having a wOnDERful christmas and holidays!
Cheers,
Yael
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
21st December- Since Lauren asked..
Yo. So, Lauren asked if I could start a blog, so here we go. Basically it's the emails I'd be sending to you anyway. Although if I'm really clever, I can put photos in appropriate places.. I'll add the previous ones later. I suspect I will have a bunch of time..
Our flight to the South Pole was moved from our flight on Tuesday to one on Wednesday at 6.45am. Then that moved to 8.45am, then 9.15, then 10.15, and then at 10.45 we got confirmation that it was cancelled. So we are on a backup flight for today (they have three flights a day - if one can't fly to wherever it's supposed to go because of weather, we get to fly). At the moment it's snowing hard enough that I'm struggling to see the hill out of town (maybe 500m?) so I'm guessing that that's not enough visibility for a plane going at 800km/h.. I think this weather is supposed to last for the next few days, so I think we'll be spending Christmas here. Worse luck, I think... the food's better at the pole :) It does, however, mean that I can have a shower and be clean for Christmas. I've also found a room with a bookshelf and a bunch of jigsaw puzzles (not as many as the Kiwi base, but still...) so I'm pretty snug. Also, it's snowing (cats and dogs?) so we'll get a white christmas.
Mum - I forgot to tell you.. the majority of the jigsaw puzzles at the Kiwi base are Wasjigs.. also. They had this variety show put on by the general staff.. interesting to say the least, buuut, the theme of the show was keep calm and carry on...
Annnyywayyy.. yesterday after our flight got cancelled we went for this walk/ski called castle rock loop. It's about a 12km loop, up a hill, along a ridge, down a ski slope and walk/ski back into town. We had to hire skis etc, and the hire place only opened at 6.30pm, so we left at 7.30. (for the parents.. you're not allowed to do this course unless you've done an outdoor safety lecture, take a radio, and check in and out with the firehouse, so they know as soon as you're missing. It's all as safe as they can make it.). The first km or so is uphill, not a bad uphill at all, but hoo boy did I struggle. Clearly, I am not fit at all... We're all kitted out in big fluffy jackets, thermals etc, and it was sweaty and gross and HOT, and then there's this freezing cold wind that you're trying to hide from..and then you get cold and sweaty and gross.. I think I haven't got the technique down pat.. :) Also. Snowflake, in an ice puddle:
After a bit it flattens out, and we tried cross country skiing.. so now, that's an experience. I have never done it before, and cross country skis go straight. That is all. They don't turn. They are reasonably difficult to stop in, on even a slight downhill, and they have a tendency to cross over each other... surprisingly, I only fell over once (in this section). Cam gave up for a while, and Luke went with walking (and beat both of us)... Then we got to the downhill. Aaaallll kinds of fun. I'd borrowed a tray from the dining room, but I was a bit reluctant to use it. Cam went down the first bit on cross country skis... and it looked like so much fun that I went down on the dining room tray :) Soooooooooooooooo much fun. I think Cam has a video. I got covered in snow though. Luke snowboarded.. after he'd fixed the snowboard. He did good. The front footclamp thing (I'm sure there's a name) was fairly unstable (it's supposed to be fixed), and the back clasp was broken. So after some fancy engineering, he was good to go, and kicked all our butts... I did try cross country skiing down one of the less steep sections of the slope. The only successful way of stopping I found was to fall over. So about six falls later, I gave up and walked down the rest of the slope. It was faster than Cam on cross country skis, and I got a fantAStic view that didn't involve digging myself out of the snow.. :) We were the only people in the whole world, and the whole world was white and beautiful. Turned out that what I thought was a bunch of footprints in the snow (looking from up high) was the end of a glacier feeding into the ice shelf. SO COOL. (yes,yes, pun. I would say that is probably the most used pun in history.. ). Scale is reaally hard to judge when everything is white and the light is so flat.. it's a bit like walking with one eye closed.
The rest of the walk was about 5km of flat flat snow, and a km or so of hill. I think I got the hang of the skis (finally!!) on about the last km of flat. Walking up the last section of hill was difficult.. partly because I am so unfit, and partly because I think my muscles were so used to the cross country skiing motion and were objecting to having to walk. :)
Anyway. It was all kinds of fun (even if I didn't make it sound so much) and beauuuuutiiiiffullllll. We got back somehwere around half past midnight, and I had a much-needed shower.. hoooo boyyy was I smelly...
Pictures:
(left) The ocean on the horizon, some icebergs, the sea ice shelf (not a permanent one) and all round prettiness. From about this point on, there was no sign of life other than us, except the flags marking the route, and some emergency shelters. (right) This was on the flat section on the way home. The black speck is Luke, The small red person shaped blob is Cam, and the rest is open, white, crystal space. I can make these bigger if they give anyone difficulty, I just feel a bit guilty taking up bandwidth uploading photos...
I have come to the conclusion that snow is like sand that doesn't play fair. You step on this patch of snow that's all soft and fluffy and turns out it's a not-quite-thick-enough covering over ice, and you wave your arms frantically to keep your balance, and then you think you've got it all sorted out, and so you step carefully onto the next patch of ice, and your boot goes straight through into ankle deep snow.... gah... I think I need more practice with it. We shall have to organise a ski trip, jah, jah??
Pretty sure that about covers it. I think there's a rock climbing wall in one of the (!!) gyms here, so maybe we'll give that a go today. Although, it's a tea-and-puzzle and nana nap kinda day today, so maybe not. I think we'll be here for a few more days, so I'll keep y'all updated with fascinating tidbits.. "ate breakfast. Had a banana. It was good"..
love you(s) lots,
Yael
Our flight to the South Pole was moved from our flight on Tuesday to one on Wednesday at 6.45am. Then that moved to 8.45am, then 9.15, then 10.15, and then at 10.45 we got confirmation that it was cancelled. So we are on a backup flight for today (they have three flights a day - if one can't fly to wherever it's supposed to go because of weather, we get to fly). At the moment it's snowing hard enough that I'm struggling to see the hill out of town (maybe 500m?) so I'm guessing that that's not enough visibility for a plane going at 800km/h.. I think this weather is supposed to last for the next few days, so I think we'll be spending Christmas here. Worse luck, I think... the food's better at the pole :) It does, however, mean that I can have a shower and be clean for Christmas. I've also found a room with a bookshelf and a bunch of jigsaw puzzles (not as many as the Kiwi base, but still...) so I'm pretty snug. Also, it's snowing (cats and dogs?) so we'll get a white christmas.
Mum - I forgot to tell you.. the majority of the jigsaw puzzles at the Kiwi base are Wasjigs.. also. They had this variety show put on by the general staff.. interesting to say the least, buuut, the theme of the show was keep calm and carry on...
Annnyywayyy.. yesterday after our flight got cancelled we went for this walk/ski called castle rock loop. It's about a 12km loop, up a hill, along a ridge, down a ski slope and walk/ski back into town. We had to hire skis etc, and the hire place only opened at 6.30pm, so we left at 7.30. (for the parents.. you're not allowed to do this course unless you've done an outdoor safety lecture, take a radio, and check in and out with the firehouse, so they know as soon as you're missing. It's all as safe as they can make it.). The first km or so is uphill, not a bad uphill at all, but hoo boy did I struggle. Clearly, I am not fit at all... We're all kitted out in big fluffy jackets, thermals etc, and it was sweaty and gross and HOT, and then there's this freezing cold wind that you're trying to hide from..and then you get cold and sweaty and gross.. I think I haven't got the technique down pat.. :) Also. Snowflake, in an ice puddle:
After a bit it flattens out, and we tried cross country skiing.. so now, that's an experience. I have never done it before, and cross country skis go straight. That is all. They don't turn. They are reasonably difficult to stop in, on even a slight downhill, and they have a tendency to cross over each other... surprisingly, I only fell over once (in this section). Cam gave up for a while, and Luke went with walking (and beat both of us)... Then we got to the downhill. Aaaallll kinds of fun. I'd borrowed a tray from the dining room, but I was a bit reluctant to use it. Cam went down the first bit on cross country skis... and it looked like so much fun that I went down on the dining room tray :) Soooooooooooooooo much fun. I think Cam has a video. I got covered in snow though. Luke snowboarded.. after he'd fixed the snowboard. He did good. The front footclamp thing (I'm sure there's a name) was fairly unstable (it's supposed to be fixed), and the back clasp was broken. So after some fancy engineering, he was good to go, and kicked all our butts... I did try cross country skiing down one of the less steep sections of the slope. The only successful way of stopping I found was to fall over. So about six falls later, I gave up and walked down the rest of the slope. It was faster than Cam on cross country skis, and I got a fantAStic view that didn't involve digging myself out of the snow.. :) We were the only people in the whole world, and the whole world was white and beautiful. Turned out that what I thought was a bunch of footprints in the snow (looking from up high) was the end of a glacier feeding into the ice shelf. SO COOL. (yes,yes, pun. I would say that is probably the most used pun in history.. ). Scale is reaally hard to judge when everything is white and the light is so flat.. it's a bit like walking with one eye closed.
The rest of the walk was about 5km of flat flat snow, and a km or so of hill. I think I got the hang of the skis (finally!!) on about the last km of flat. Walking up the last section of hill was difficult.. partly because I am so unfit, and partly because I think my muscles were so used to the cross country skiing motion and were objecting to having to walk. :)
Anyway. It was all kinds of fun (even if I didn't make it sound so much) and beauuuuutiiiiffullllll. We got back somehwere around half past midnight, and I had a much-needed shower.. hoooo boyyy was I smelly...
Pictures:
(left) The ocean on the horizon, some icebergs, the sea ice shelf (not a permanent one) and all round prettiness. From about this point on, there was no sign of life other than us, except the flags marking the route, and some emergency shelters. (right) This was on the flat section on the way home. The black speck is Luke, The small red person shaped blob is Cam, and the rest is open, white, crystal space. I can make these bigger if they give anyone difficulty, I just feel a bit guilty taking up bandwidth uploading photos...
I have come to the conclusion that snow is like sand that doesn't play fair. You step on this patch of snow that's all soft and fluffy and turns out it's a not-quite-thick-enough covering over ice, and you wave your arms frantically to keep your balance, and then you think you've got it all sorted out, and so you step carefully onto the next patch of ice, and your boot goes straight through into ankle deep snow.... gah... I think I need more practice with it. We shall have to organise a ski trip, jah, jah??
Pretty sure that about covers it. I think there's a rock climbing wall in one of the (!!) gyms here, so maybe we'll give that a go today. Although, it's a tea-and-puzzle and nana nap kinda day today, so maybe not. I think we'll be here for a few more days, so I'll keep y'all updated with fascinating tidbits.. "ate breakfast. Had a banana. It was good"..
love you(s) lots,
Yael
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