The end of last week was slow as brash ice didn't allow us to get out and CTD or dive, until Saturday! We work Saturday mornings here!
Saturday was a good dive, we were marking if a grid of small square cement blocks had been hit by an iceberg, we then replaced the old blocks with new ones - the aim of this study is to look at the impact of disturbance of icebergs on community structure. It's a hard job to do underwater as you need to be properly weighted so that you do not hit the sediment that you're trying to sample whilst carrying around concrete blocks.
Saturday I skidoo-ed a lot !!!! We got to the caboose which is at the bottom of the mountain called Vals, the caboose is a hut used for warming up and making yourself a cuppa tea after getting towed up to the top of Vals to then ski down! I did lots of the skidooing up to Vals and then I took some Nordic skis and skiwalked to the skiway where the twin-otters land if it is too dangerous too land at Rothera.
Sunday was what Rotherans call a dingle day. A dingle day is when there is hardly any wind, no snow blowing and the sun is shining!
We all had a lie in followed by an incredible full breakfast brunch. A few of us then headed to the ice cliffs just behind the hangar with the field guides off the base.
We there learnt how to ice climb. It is such an amazing hobby that these field guides have the best hobby!
You are attached on a belay via a harness (you double figure of eight and stopper knot around your harness), then using two ice axes climb up a vertical ice wall. We were taught to keep our arms straight, bum in and then shuffle our feet up whilst pulling up on our arms. Whilst moving your feet which have crampons attached (the spikes) you did your toe in first and then unnaturally push your heel down.
After lots of runs up different routes the fun didn't stop there. We were kindly given the opportunity to go down a crevasse that is worryingly (but safe) near base.
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| This is the small hole that we were belayed down which opened up into a massive crevasse. |
We were lowered down a hole which opened us up into a world of so many different blues, even was pretty silent as we walked around the crevasse.
It was incredibly icy!
After an epic weekend we were back to work; the fun continued. On Monday Adam and I drove the rib for Ben whilst he drove Debra around (his beloved ROV which is a Remotely operated vehicle), it was a stressful morning as there was a fast ice flow which meant that small and large bits of ice were flowing fast which made it difficult to drive the ROV.
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| Thanks Emily Venables for this photo! |
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| Thanks Emily for this photo of Sam and I! |
Even as I write this blog I must just say that it's not always fun and games like it may seem, there are stressful moments and you're leaving with a tight knit community for such a long time that (especially me as a blabber and loud mouth) has to be careful to not be too loud or say the wrong thing but it's pretty much smooth running's all the time which is great!
On a happier note, yesterday I had an epic dive where we completed lots of work but it was made incredible by a few penguins swimming around us.
Antarctica is such a beautiful place, I am learning so much!!!
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| At the end of the day when it's as warm a can be here I've found my new favorite spot to watch twin otter test flights, the sea and clouds!! |