Life Beyond the Beaker

  A few weeks ago a couple of us headed up to Vals and bivvied on top of Reptile ridge for the night. It was -20 degrees Celsius. Sleeping outside with just a thermarest, sheep's skin and a down sleeping bag inside a bivvy bag was pretty exciting. With the spot lights that surround the buildings of Rothera it was great to get away from the small amount of light pollution that we create and really embrace the Antarctic fresh air. The stars were incredible and we regularly saw shooting stars.       We had some food at the caboose before heading up to our camp for the night.  The darkness that surrounded us for the past few months gave us great opportunity to take night time photography. I've learnt so much about photography whilst I've been here and can't wait to get home and invest in some more kit.  Ali Rose is a great photographer and has been giving us all tips on our photography skills.  A 30 minute exposure. ...

Work and play here can sometimes be the same thing...this job is pretty amazing! After an epic weekend of walking up a mountain called Gwendoline outside the flag line on Saturday, with Al leading us up the icy and sometimes snowy walk. We set off early..lovely colors!  It was outside the flag line, so we each had a skidoo. Two people were tied together and pulled a half unit of emergency supplies just encase the weather prevented us from getting back.   So good to be able to play in the sun.  Rob loving it. Me, Hector and Rob were all snowboarding so walking up was much more tiring that Al, Kate and Bradderz who were skinning up on their skis! Maybe I will learn to ski.... Hector trying to look cool... -20 with a slight windchill...pretty chilly so down was needed!  The fun for the weekend did not stop there. Malcy and I decided to tackle Orca again, but this time it was the mighty Alpine route of Toulouse Lautrec on ORCAAAA!! A 6 ...

Last weekend we competed against the other Antarctic bases in the 48 hour film festival. The aim was to devise  a script, film and edit the film within 48 hours. It had to include the items; A mythical creature, the noise of an elephant, a stethoscope, ''may the force be with you. The photos below are throughout the 48 hours whilst we plan and film! Planning the night before filming Recreating Shackleton's men walking through a whiteout Getting inventive with our modern moving shots Starting to edit and discuss what else needs to be filmed Discussing the shot Getting even more quirky with the moving cam You can view our video here:  https://vimeo.com/177997320 The other base videos should be available in the next few weeks. Tonight we all watch the rest of Antarctic base videos and decide on a winner!!!!

  Al and I set off on our weeks holiday (my second winter trip) with our skidoos and sledges packed.    The week before we left we had the flag up ceremony to mark the sun coming back! So happy to see Rothera lit up by the sun again. Photos of this are on Ali Rose's amazing blog along with some fantastic shots of me and the dive time diving through the ice!   http://www.mountainstotheseaphotography.com/2016/07/sea-ice-divers-and-the-raising-of-the-flag/   We were hoping that the contrast would be good enough to get through McCallum's pass, an area hindered by deathly crevasses. Luckily for us the clouds parted for us to nip around the south side of the pass. We were linked up via skidoos, we were wrapped up in down clothing to keep us warm for the long journey. Setting off   Sundogs   The route around to the campsite called the Myth was stunning. The mountains towered over us as Al navigated us to our destination. See...