Life Beyond the Beaker

Last week I was very lucky to get to Sky Blu on a copilot, as I had been diving on Saturday I had to wait until Tuesday to go flying as the safety limits are to wait 48 hours to decompress nitrogen bubbles from your system before you go to altitude. So I got a lift on the Dash-7 all the way to sky Blu, as you can see from the map below. Sky Blu is 75 degree's South and surrounded by Nunataks (hills), it is 4500 ft above sea level. It is important for supporting BAS operations allowing the Dash & to input fuel, field equipment and people; what would usually take about 4 otter flights! AS a fuel depo it also allows the twin otters to fly further south. These were the passengers that I shared the flight with, lots of drums of fuel.  VIP mug Using the CAT to unload the fuel drums, then reloading the Dash with gear left over from the field.  Incredible weather  The reason it is so great for BAS is that is has a 1 km blue ice runway that is m...

I had the opportunity to work from the HMS Protector for a few days last week. We were only on board for 2 and a half days but completed work on 3 different islands a few miles away from Rothera. The Protector is a Royal Navy Ice patrol ship.    An impressive crane! I do hate these ladders We had to carry survival gear with us which included tent, food and stove encase we got stranded on one of the islands. We had three main missions. From Rothera we travelled to Horseshoe island, then Pourquoi Par and then Lagotellerie and then back to Rothera   Our first mission was to go to Horseshoe Island where I was responsible for swapping out an old sea ice depot and replacing it with new stock. Horseshoe used to be a BAS (then FIDs) base back in 1955 where meteorology and geology was carried out, it is now looked after by the Antarctic Heritage Trust. The purpose of a sea ice depot is for BAS winter travelling from Rothera acr...