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.
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VIP mug
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| Using the CAT to unload the fuel drums, then reloading the Dash with gear left over from the field. |
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Incredible weather
The reason it is so great for BAS is that is has a 1 km blue ice runway that is maintained by mechanics and field guides. These blue ice areas form where mountains/nunnataks obstruct flow causing the ice to flow upwards towards the surface! Not just good for planes but also for a bit of ice skating...my balance and coordination must have improved over the winter because I didn't fall over! |
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| Lots of people from base get stuck at Sky Blu over the season due to bad weather. It isn't that bad with a big sofa, two reflex heater in the weather haven tent and a cooking area in the photo below. |
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| Real milk sent in from ALE!!! |
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| There is a melt tank that is rigged to a heater, so we fill it with snow most days to then get water to cook and drink. |
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| The Alpine 1's are proper old skool - I loved them! |
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| Credit goes to John Law for this awesome graphic. It's a famous quote around Rothera as usually when the field officer James Wakes tells you that you're going to Sky Blu you should pack for at least 2 weeks as weather and getting flights out to there can be difficult. |
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| I think Steve had been there too long |
Walking back to our melon hut - it was very warm as it also has it's own reflex heater.
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| The sun is already starting to get low again. |
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| I have been sailing!!!! I've been missing sailing a lot with the return of the sea, so instead we used a sledge on the blue ice runway. Great fun. |
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| Steve who was the Sky Blu field guide whilst I was there in the past was a chef...he cooks amazing food on a stove! |
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| At Sky Blu there are 3 underground garages, these are awesome for storing things over the summer but mainly over winter. Ice crystals form on the roof which makes it look spectacular. |
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| The plastic roof allows drifting snow to pass straight over. |
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| This underground/snow garage would be an awesome rave location... |
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| It's pretty cold at Sky Blu, my hair froze which always makes me feel like I'm in the true Antarctica...at Rothera we are a bit spoilt in the summer as it has been reaching temperatures of +2! |
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| Weather haven where the sofa and food is! |
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| I was there for the first day of Sky Blu being closed down for winter. First job is snow blowing all of the tents and weather havens so that they can be dismantled and put in the under ground garages for winter. |
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| The main job at sky blu is to refuel planes, the spate pump (just like the one we use at Fossil Bluff) allows us to pump fuel straight into the twotter. |
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| This is Stewie dipping the tank to check for water contamination |
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| I was very happy to get flying again!!! The new garmin system takes a bit of getting used to. |
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| Towing on the Alpine 1 up a hill had its moments.. |
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| Almost a sun set |
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| The sunsetting behind the nunataks |
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| haa I made Mark the pilot stand in this photo. Love how big the nose of the twotter is |
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| Our main mission complete...we picked up the last few guys who had been on the Ibeam traverse since October... ths |
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Flying back to Rothera over the sea ice!
Such an incredible few days getting the furthest South I have ever been and actually standing on the Antarctic continent finally. It was great to have a bit of a break from work before I head back to the UK on the Shackelton! |
