This morning Tommy, Sam, Rob and I went up to Deadmans all with different modes of snow travel! Tommy had his snowboard, Sam just snowshoes, Rob his skis and myself with snowshoes and a sledge with hauling harness.

The boys had a great time skiing and snowboarding on a few patches however, they did cause some damage to their boards and skis with scree that came through the snow. I picked up the jerry can of kerosene and put it on the sledge and hauled it the rest of the way to the hut about 9km round trip. A rope brake worked great for the downhills so I didn’t get taken out by the sledge. A small load but noticeable.

Pictures are by Sam Crimmin

I have spent the afternoon making some accessories for Tommy and my rucksacks to hold ski poles, avalanche probs, avalanche shovels and his snowboard. I am also making myself my own towing harness to take with me when I leave. A good way to spend a blowie rainy afternoon. Oh and Ruth did a grand job of cutting my hair. Tomorrow I am on earlies and am going to make american style buckwheat pancakes with the maple syrup my parents brought for everyone on base. Hope you all had a great saturday.

This morning there wasn’t a stunning sunrise however, the light for the morning was beautiful bright blue skis sparkling off the snow. It was hard work on my run as the snow was deeper it took me 40 minutes for my normal 20 minute run. Back home for a quick bowl of porridge before getting to the boatshed to start servicing the engine.

The lower unit polished up with new gaskets and an impellor that was removed and checked ready to go back on the engine.

The parts suppliers back in the UK for our engines had responded to my request for advice on getting into the water pump seals which was very efficient of them. I took the powerhead off the engine and started to clean everything throughly and regrease it all with 600 + hours on the engine it has never had a really good clean just grease and corrosion guard has been added on again and again.

Middle section of the engine with the lower unit and powerhead removed.

Power head removed and ready to clean away all the grease

Powerhead ready to be cleaned on monday morning

I didn’t really even get 1/2 way through the job before it was time for a quick lunch so I could get scrub out done and go for a snowshoe after work around Gull Lake.

Tommy came with me bringing his snowboard and actually got quite a few turns in on the track on the way home.

We first went up across the Dam which made for some interesting crabbing with snow shoes for Tommy!

The leeward shore of the lake was piled up with ice fragments which were beautiful in the falling sun.

We had a good pace going and got home again just as the light faded and it really started to blow. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get up to Deadmans and take the jerry can of kerosene the rest of the way to Maiviken Hut. For now time to relax with a good book (more exactly my kindle!) unfortunately not in front of a fire but in the warm and cozy KEP bar.

Photo by Rob Webster of the Bar

Have a great weekend everyone.

The sky was a brilliant red which reflected off the water in the cove but for only about 5 minutes this morning. A really stunning morning run. By 07:30 when I was at my desk the first big snowflakes were coming down and it continued to snow all day until 4pm when I took off on snowshoes with Rob to Deadmans.

With my GoPro camera on my helmet courtesy of the pot luck crowd in San Francisco and the crew and owner of Chance

As the roofs around base heated up the snow started coming off in large rooficles (the same shape as the corrogations!).

During the work day we have continued to do some work on the RIBs and Matt took apart the lower leg of the second to last engine that needs a full service. Unfortunately it was full of water in the lower unit so it needed some new seals however, it wasn’t coming apart easily. Seeing as Matt was on earlies and needed to make dinner I took the lower unit off the one waiting for it’s full service and serviced that so we could swap the lower units as the engines have only a few hours difference in running time between them. We like to keep the boats ready to go out at any time.

Rob took some really great pictures of the walk through Grytviken (see below) and up the hill to Deadmans where we retrieved the jerry can of fuel and moved it to a higher vantage point but still next to the bamboo stake used to mark it when I hauled it up there on wednesday. Things can get lost in the snow very quickly around here with the wind blowing the powder around.

The light this morning was beautiful for my run and there was hardly any breeze. Lots of great tracks to look at in the snow!

Furry flip marks

JCB going to Grytviken

Ali put his skis on and poled himself around about 20meters!

Pintail

Giant Petrel

On my morning run

Tommy doing earlies

After work I took a jerry can of kerosene up to Deadmans for at Maiviken hut as we were running low. I packed it in a rucksack put on my IPOD (coutesy of Scott, Adam and Guillemette) and listened to some upbeat music while climbing the hill to Deadmans. There was at some points 10 inches of snow in drifts but mostly around 4 or 5 inches however, I didn’t have to break the trail as the yachties had been up the track ahead of me during the day as had Alastair on his poo collection! When I got to the top I paused long enough to listen to the complete stillness as there was no breeze at all. The only sound was the overflowing streams full of snow melt cascading down as waterfalls along Bore Valley. It seemed like I was looking at a black and white picture with the exception of some tussock grass peaking through at the beaches of Maiviken. I changed tracks to classical from Out of Africa on the way back down with no load on my back it was a very pleasant walk. I rounded the corner to Grytviken and was met by a profusion of color the buildings, the mirror still cove and the sun setting which left tinges of pink high above the gray clouds. Time for dinner cooked by Tommy which was tasty (chicken, stilton, mushrooms and rice) and a few hours of work on my MWP in the wood shop.

I started work at my normal 7:30am after a run in the snow so I could finish at 4pm. Tommy persuaded me to take 30 minutes for lunch and I had some things to drop off at the hyrdo so we left base at 3:30pm. We were in search of a slope with enough snow for Tommy to snow board. So we trudged up the track to Gull Lake left off the torches and gas bottles in the hydro and kept on going up into Hodges Bowl.

At some points the snow was half way up my thighs and in other places there was just ice clinging to the scree.

We got back as the sun set but with our head torches and all the other safety gear it was safe as houses – just a tad windy. Race Antarctica started so it is time to clock up those miles. Tommy and I agree that post hole digging through the snow should equal more than running on the pavement in Cambridge or on a treadmill but lots of things in life aren’t fair and post hill digging is a lot more fun 🙂

Tommy and myself on the ridge before Boulder Pass

Finally the temperature has dropped and the rain has turned to a mix of snow and sleet. The snow has been sticking at sea level today.

Beautiful picture of base by Tommy from the plateau below Hodges

Halfway up the gulley to Orca by Tommy
Yesterday Tommy and I were sometimes up to our waist on the slopes of Hodges beautiful white fluffy stuff!

Today it has been snowing all day and fluctuating from 5 knots to 70 knots with wind shifts of up to 100 degrees. Outside my office window the cove has been whipped up to a frenzy of white water and every now and again the sea is flung against the window. Matt boat mentioned that he hoped they had nailed the roof down well 🙂

So taking the opportunity as the weather is so poor I did a chart session this afternoon with 6 people as part of their theory boat training. Subject was plotting a position on a chart and then giving a position of something on the chart. We used our plots from the glacier ice front surveys so we could also measure the distance of retreat of the ice fronts on the Neumayer glacier.

Tommy is salivating at the idea of snow boarding and is trying to persuade me to take him up to Hodges Bowl tomorrow. Meanwhile I have a headache and am heading for my bunk! Tomorrow we start Race Antarctica.

Tommy excited it is the weekend! I dread to think what he is going to be like when he leaves to go home!

I was on earlies today and seeing as all it did outside was sleet, snow or rain it seemed like a great day to stay in the kitchen sort out the pantry and the fridges of left overs etc. I had my normal morning run and the snow were small round balls about 1mm by the end of the day there were some large fluffy flakes coming down. I made my Aunt Kady’s bran muffins which everyone on base devours when ever I make them. It reminds me of Kady and how we used to turn up at her house late at night having flown from the UK to Oregon and she always greeted us with brownies, vanilla ice cream and hersey’s fudge sauce!!

Starter of minestrone soup then main course of polenta with cheese, balsalmic vinegar and red wine reduction for a sauce.

Lamb loin in a marinade of cumin, olive oil an garlic seared and baked in hot oven for 15 minutes and mixed roasted veg (I tried to hide some brussel sprouts in there as we have a mountain of them!)

Dessert choice of pumpkin pie (first time I have ever made this american classic) and creme brulee with a fruit sauce

Dinner table setting

Boring I know…. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs lost my 09-10 return so now I have to redo it seems like a job this weekend during snow storms! I will also do 10-11 at the same time just to get it done. The joys of being a dual citizen and getting to file US and UK tax returns.

This picture was taken a month ago at Harker Glacier

Today we did a Greene run to take Kieron and Andy down to the Harker Glacier end of the Greene to drop them off. We left their boatsuits and emergency overnight kit at the North end of the Peninsula next to the hut as we are having so much snow and wind at the moment. Seeing as it wasn’t that miserable of a day we also mapped the front of the glacier as we have already done with the Lyell and Neumayer. I have put these waypoints in our EasyGPS program and based on the charts made of the area in 2001 I estimate the Neumayer has receded at a rate of 333m a year!

We left the RIBs in the water until the afternoon pick up and got Andy and Kieron from the beach next to the hut at around 3:00pm it is a 30 minute round trip. Just as we rounded the corner into the cove Matt the mechanic was halfway along the track with the JCB to Grytiviken! I know it is only conicidence but it seems to happen every time we come back from a Greene trip and we really need to get the boats out – hence JCB wars. So I called him on the radio and asked when I could have the JCB back as that is how we get the RIBs out of the water on the trailer. He said in an hour….. well in the meantime we were having gusts that would pick the water up outside the boatshed and throw it into the air – so maybe 60 – 70 knot gusts! Obviously I didn’t really want to leave the boats at the wharf when they could be inside nice and toasty put away for the afternoon.

Matt Boat mentioned ”we could use the jet boat winch and then tell him we got the whole base to pull them out of the water on the trailer!” So we used the winch which was a bit of a pain taking 4 times as long but we did learn that it worked and we got the boats out before it really started blowing.

This is a picture after we have turned the boat outside so it can be brought into the shed with the tongue ready to hook the JCB up when we launch them again it isn’t how we brought them out of the water!!

I must say at the moment I feel like Forrest in Forrest Gump all I seem to do is run! I came with 15 pairs of brand new socks and now most pairs look like this.

Next week it will get even worse as Race Antarctica kicks off on April 12th. Teams of 6 from each station (we might have two teams) run, walk, ski, row, bike etc. 6000km or 12000km. Rowing 1km is worth 3km, biking 1km is worth 1km and walking/running etc is worth 2.5km per km. We race against teams for Cambridge and other stations. Cambridge obviously have the advantage of being able to go outside being as it is summer. Basically it is a good way to keep people who are south fit during the long dark winter. I will keep you informed of how our team is doing.

In the meantime time to darn my socks!!

Today I did various small jobs – sorting out the spark plugs and why we have a total of 5 different types when we only have one type of engine!, taking the route off the chartplotter of the glacier front (had to build a nmea cable for this and connect up to the computer) and …

Above is a picture of our Tsunami shelter which is next to Gull lake at the top of the waterfall that goes past Shackleton’s grave. I helped Rob carry up some fuel, stoves, pots, head torches, tilley lamp etc. It has been raining quite a lot the last few days so the waterfall was really storming.