Icestock!!

Current conditions
Temperature: 25F
Wind Chill: 15F

Let me just start by saying no one should have to work on New Years Day. For some odd reason our weekend was the 30th and 31st. People were walking around work like zombies on the 1st. I brought in the new year in a nice, mellow fashion. At least it started mellow. Drank wine and played 'speed scrabble' right through to the new year. Addictive game, highly recommend it. That was followed by an impromptu and bizarre synthesizer session in the chapel. It sounded great at the time, though I bet playback would be hilariously bad. Always intending to go home to bed, I often find myself at the neighbors' place. Nick and Justin live across the hall and like to party hard and late. They always have visitors, known and unknown. We strummed guitars and mandolins till the wee hours of the morning.

This weekend I was on the bill for the southernmost outdoor music festival in the world: Icestock! And oh boy was it icy! The weather was cold, snowy and windy, but the musicians all rallied with hand warmers ready in pockets and taped to wrists. I had two friends sing with me for 'The Girl from Ipanema'. Bill rocked the Portuguese part and Katie pulled off a great Astrud Gilberto! Here we are in the falling snow:


Pretty interesting to play the guitar with snow melting on the fretboard and hypothermic fingers! The stage looked a bit like a trash pile with garbage bags over the monitors to keep them dry. I had about a 20 minute set that I recorded through the soundboard. I'll try to get the audio posted somewhere. All the bands that played had a different style. It was great; we heard every genre. There was a blues band, a punk band, a pop rock band, an alt rock band, a reggae band, a surf band, a bluegrass band... My favorite was the funk band. Done up right, too:


I'm not sure where all that hair was hiding the first time Katie hit the stage! It's amazing that a population of 1000 can produce so many good musicians, mostly good anyway. During the show, which lasted all day, was a chili cook off, and the carps had a "Sawbucks" stand set up where they passed out coffee with Baileys and Bushmills. Nothing like chili and spiked coffee to keep you warm, even if they really didn't go well together... at all.

Cheers! Happy New Year!

Pressure Ridges

Current Conditions
Temperature: 30F
Wind Chill: -7F

I am at the Arrival Heights building above town right now and the winds are gusting up to 55 knots, shaking the whole building. Scratch that, 97 knots!! I guess it's technically Condition 1 up here now, but I'm the only one who knows. Visibility is still fine, so I'm not worried. It has been gorgeous all week here, so it's only natural that it should go bad just before the holiday weekend! The weather changes rapidly and unexpectedly, so there is still hope!

Don't think I mentioned this already; there is a webcam on the Kiwi building right next door. The link is www.antarcticanz.govt.nz/education/2568. It updates every 15 minutes or so, so you can look for my red truck parked here, and if you're lucky (and for you east-coasters, up late) you might see me next to it, or on the roof. On a nice day, Erebus will be in the background.

I took a more detailed tour of the pressure ridges over the weekend. The weather was beautiful: low 40s, sunny, calm. The sun reflecting up from the snow and ice made it even warmer out on the sea than in town! Here are Bamma and I soaking up the sun:


That's right, short sleeves! And a little puff from Mt. Erebus. I've already talked about pressure ridges, so I'll just add that there were a dozen seals hanging out there this time. I didn't bring a telephoto lens so no pics of them, but here are a couple cool ones of the ridges:


Pretty strange shapes formed by sun and wind. Most of the ice formations are 10 feet tall or less, but there are several that reach skyward 30 feet or more:


That's Ob Hill in the background. This next one is for perspective. Bamma was our "coat sherpa" for the day:


Hopefully that sunny weather comes back for the weekend. This week is a particularly long one. Our holiday is based on military no-fly days, which means we have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off, Monday and Tuesday. Unfortunately, that means we work Saturday and Sunday, so it's a seven day work week. Then for some retarded reason we have the 30th and 31st off, so next week is only a four day work week, and New Years Day is bound to be counter-productive for most.

Merry Christmas!!

Open Mic

Had a blast playing at open-mic on Thursday. Cara, my boss (but don't call her that!), caught me mid-yell:


Usually pretty modest about it, but I have to share this comment because it cracked me up:

"We were sitting there with our mouths literally hanging open... and when you opened your mouth and sang our hair blew back like in the memorex ad!!!"

THANKS CINDY!!! Best compliment I've ever had!

There was a lot of great talent there, and everyone's style was so different. Killer slide guitarist, Some great harmonizing duos, a hilarious song satirizing 'Hippie Chics', Katie sang a bitchin' jazz version of 'Fever' with a stand-up bass and the audience snapping! I'll try to plug into the soundboard for a recording next time.

Its a two-fer today, so don't miss Mt. Erebus below!

Mt. Erebus

Current Conditions
Temperature: 36F
Wind Chill: 26F

After several weeks of clouds and snow, the weather has gotten quite nice here. Just in time, too. I was on the helicopter manifest every day last week for a ride up to Mt. Erebus, and every day it was canceled due to weather. Disappointing. But on Monday, it finally happened. I donned all my ECW (extreme cold weather gear) and weighed in at 173. That's nearly 20 pounds of insulation! My helo mates were kind enough to let me ride shotgun for my first flight. It was such old hat to them that they just slept in the back seat.

Its about a 20 minute ride along the peninsula to the mountain. The landscape is predominantly glacial, with the occasional bit of rock peeking out, and the mountaintop veiled in cloud:


Our bird was a bit heavy when we arrived on the east flank of the mountain, so we circled several times to burn some fuel. The pilot was concerned about schedule, but flying next to Mt. Erebus for 10 minutes was A-Ok by me:


Mt. Erebus is the southernmost active volcano in the world, and one of only a few that have an actual lava lake in their crater, making it scientifically remarkable. The mountain produces strombolian eruptions, low to mid level eruptions that often send magma hurling through the air. These are generally caused by gas bubbles reaching the surface of the magma column, like a large glass of carbonated cola (c-o-l-a, cola). Because the eruptions are minor, scientists are able to place instrumentation within a few hundred meters of the activity.

There is a live webcam of the crater posted at http://erebus.nmt.edu/video/live_video_qt.html. Definitely check out the "Best of..." movies on the left hand side of the page. Exploding red hot magma!

Unfortunately, the instrument we were servicing was nowhere near the lava lake (or if you've seen the videos, perhaps 'fortunately'). We landed in a very small snow field at about 7500 of Erebus' total 12,451 ft. Located there is one of many seismic stations which are scattered across the mountain. It was our job to install the solar cells that would power that station for the season. Batteries support the instrument into the austral night, but only for a month or two. After that, no data till the sun comes back up.

From our perch on the mountainside, the view was of the north side of Ross Island and the Ross Sea beyond:


This is a great example of fast ice becoming pack ice becoming drift ice. Fast ice is still connected (fastened) to the ground. Pack ice has broken off from the ice shelf, but still covers most of the surface of the water. As it gets blown/carried out by winds and ocean currents it becomes drift ice, which is generally more spread out than pack ice. The large individual pieces in the picture are called ice floes. For a sense of scale, Beaufort Island, the dark patch in the distant mist, is about 50 miles away. So a few of those floes are probably over a mile wide.

This week's warm weather is causing the sea ice to rapidly melt; don't worry, it's not global warming, just the usual seasonal cycle. The recent late season storms helped to push out a lot of the pack ice near McMurdo Sound. The combination of storms and warmth means that Mactown may become beachfront property this year, something that hasn't happened in recent years due to iceberg B-15, a 4200+ square mile 'berg that broke off in 2000 and drifted past McMurdo Sound in 2004 and 2005. Roughly the size and shape of Delaware, B-15 impeded the outflow of pack ice from the area.

After a few hours on the side of the mountain, our ride returned. We lay face down in the snow to avoid the rotor wash until the pilot powered down:


Flying in a helicopter is much like riding a rail-less roller coaster. Our return pilot rocked! We lifted up just enough to clear some rock outcroppings and then dove down low and fast along the slope. Great close-ups of enormous crevasses! The sense of scale is completely lost on film.

"I'm going to make a couple sharp banks after this last crevasse!" Here's a man who loves his job!

The Whacky Things Carps Do

I went to a barbeque at the Carp Shop the other night and got acquainted with several interesting ways to kill time. The carpenters often travel about to set up and tear down field camps. They also often get stuck at field camps when the weather is not suitable for a return flight. So, this is what they do:

Washers
This game is very similar to horseshoes. Replace the shoes with large washers (we're talking the size of your palm, here). Replace the pit with a box about 18" square and a couple inches tall. Replace the post with a 4" length of large diameter PVC pipe. Now shorten the throw to about ten feet. Throw four washers per team. One point for every washer in the box, three for every washer in the pipe. Washers in the box cancel each other, a washer in the pipe cancels all the other team's washers. Play to 21.

Table Traverse
This one is for monkeys, no touching the ground. Start on top of a folding table. Go around the tabletop the short way, then the long way. Most of this game is spent hanging under the table and grunting. There is a surprising amount of technique involved in this one.

Bottle Walk
Your feet must stay behind the line while you "walk" away with your hands, which are each holding a beer bottle. Again, no touching the ground, not even your hands. Place one bottle upright as far from the line as possible and stand back up using only the remaining bottle. Imagine someone in a pushup position, balancing on two feet and a bottle, reaching out to place the second bottle and nudge it as far forward as possible.

Nagel Block
Nagel is the German word for nail. Everyone sits around a large block of wood. Each has his own nail started in the block. There is also a nail in the middle of the block. Your implement is a hammer-sized pickaxe. One end is a flat, horizontal blade about an inch wide, a small adze. The other, more difficult end, is a point, a pick. Choose and end, drive your nail. No aiming. For some reason you must tap the tool on the block twice first. Tap, tap, whack. If you hit your nail, go for the center nail, then back to your own. It's exceedingly difficult and tremendously addictive. I was told that you win if you can get up and walk away.

Grab Bag
Stand a paper lunch bag on the ground. While balancing on one foot, pick up the bag with your mouth. Each time the feat is accomplished, cut a strip from the top edge of the bag.

Ass Ratchet
Two people and a long strap. Each has an end of the strap wrapped around their backside. Feet are planted. The goal: to de-plant the other guy.

It was a great party. Burgers and brats on the grill, horseshoes out back. Just like a regular sunny summer barbeque, except the view was a little more white than green, and the beer didn't need refrigeration. No photos from the party, so I'll just throw this in:


This was taken during my walk home from a different night out, at about 1am. Trust me, the light is only dusky because it's cloudy. This is looking south when the sun is at its lowest, and you can see it's still well above the horizon.

Cheers!

Activities

Current Conditions
Temperature: 25F
Wind Chill: 17F

What do I do here in my spare time?

There is a basketball court-sized gym here that hosts sport leagues. I'm on a soccer team that plays every Thursday. There are leagues for volleyball and dodgeball (yes, dodgeball). There's also a 2 lane bowling alley. I roll with my co-workers on Tuesdays. We're awful.

There are constant activities here: yoga, Spanish group, two different aerobics classes, "stitch & bitch", latin dance class, tap dancing, science lectures, travelogues, American night at New Zealand's Scott Base (this is on Thursdays so I won't make it until soccer is through). There are hours for the craft room, ceramics studio, climbing wall, and library. Movies get scheduled in the coffee house and galley, and there is usually live music somewhere every weekend. All that doesn't even include the various private parties and one-time events.

Costumes are encouraged here for any event or occasion, and often worn for no reason at all. I guess it can just be considered part of the odd culture down here. The janitors have had "Fun Hat Friday" and "Superhero Saturday" so far. Imagine a caped crusader cleaning your workplace. I inherited a viking helmet from Jason, my predecessor, and so became somewhat of a superhero myself for the cyclecross race last weekend:


I have to admit that I felt as much an ass as I looked, but the crowd ate it up. The race was actually sort of anti-cyclecross, I thought, because instead of riding beefy road bikes on a trail, we rode chintzy mountain bikes on the road. At least the roads aren't paved. Instead of barriers and run-ups, we had a pushup station and a roll-down. I movie'd a string of stills taken of me:

The roll-down was strongly discouraged by "Uncle Ray", but most of the guys did it anyway, some better than others. I think I came in 12th overall out of thirty-something. Early enough to go back and see several good diggers:

Also this week: kiting. I found someone with a 5 meter (that's square meters) ram air kite and we went out onto the ice shelf and played in the wind Tuesday night. I believe kiteboarding goes a little beyond "discouraged" here, but I'm told there's quite a few folks that do it out past Scott Base, conveniently out of the direct gaze of Uncle Ray. Next time I'll have to grab a snowboard from gear issue and do it right, or even better - a meal tray from the galley! I bet those would get moving! Had great fun getting dragged across the perfectly groomed snow on my arse, though.

Apparently, that perfectly groomed snow is excellent for skate skiing, so I'll have to give that a try while I'm here. There are several places to hike here as well, and now that the cyclecross race is done, the mountain bike fleet is available for hire.

One of the more popular passtimes here is just plain drinking. We have a smoking bar, a non-smoking bar, and a coffee house, which also serves wine and some mixed drinks. I've managed to keep this passtime fairly minimal, but as I like to say... everything in moderation, including moderation!

So there's no lack of things to do here, at least in the summertime. I might have to become more creative in the winter months, but that's still a long ways off...