Cold Lora

NASA Blog

2008-11-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

Hello All,
Wanted to let you know that I will not be posting to this blog for the rest of the season, until Feb, 2009. Instead I will posting a new blog each week through the NASA Cryospheric Sciences branch website. For those of you who do not already know I am now a NASA employee. I love my new job but was only physically in the office for 2 weeks before heading off to Greenland. Please check out the blog and remember that I have e-mail here at Summit so please send me updates as well.

The Dramatic Entry

2008-11-06T03:23:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family,
I am posting a quick blog before the rumors start flying about my trip to Greenland.

I had quite a dramatic entry into Denmark. During my flight from Washington DC to Copenhagen On Oct 30, I got quite ill. I was vomiting and was getting quite dehydrated throughout the 8 hour flight. By the time I got to Copenhagen I was feeling horrible. They took my from the plane to the hospital to replace some fluids which is very important when traveling to the very dry ice sheet environment. The hospital trip made me miss the Air Greenland flight to Kangerlussaq which only flys every 3 days. Russ, the chief mechanic who was headed up to Summit for turn-over week, was nice enough to stay behind me with me though this ordeal, and I got to stay in Coppenhagen until Nov 3. The doctors believed the illness was caused by food poisoning. I spent a day recovering and then a day walking around coppenhgen which was very nice.

On Nov 2 Russ and I were joined by Kat and Kathy who had also had complications in there travel logistics. On the 3rd we flew into Kanger, packed our cold weather gear and prepared for the flight to Summit on the 4th.

On the 4th we loaded into a twin otter for the 3 hour flight to Summit. It was a beautiful flight and it felt good to be back on the ice. The sun was already setting when we arrived Summit around 12:30 pm local time. The ice was glowing pink. The current crew in Camp unloaded the plane and took us to the Big house for the in briefing. Since we are at altitude we take the first day quite easy to make sure our bodies adjust well. (The first week here is called turn-over week, where there are 12 of us in Camp. This is a training period where we shadow the people who sere here before us to make sure the transition between crews is smooth.)

During my relaxing afternoon, I turned on my computer to check the early US presidential elections results and had an interesting e-mail in my inbox from Johnson Space Center. They were asking for my phone number. I had sent in an astronaut application last summer but figured it was quite a long shot chance. I sent Johnson my phone number and the camp phone rung an hour later. I got a radio call to come to the Big House for a call. I walked through the dark from the Greenhouse to the Big House already shaking, from excitement not cold. The message at the big house told me that I need to call Johnson back. I did and was asked to come out for the first round of astronaut interviews. My application had made it through to 120 applicants invited out for a 3 day initial interview. The last interview would be held Jan 26th. I am scheduled to leave Summit mid-feb. This was exciting and sad news.

I have been on quite the emotional rollercoaster from screaming in happiness to crying. I am so happy to have some good friends up here to share in this with me. So tomorrow I will call Johnson back and thank them for the interview but decline because I am already helping to carry out NASA research here in Greenland and beg for so preference in the next astronaut call a few years from now. My dream of being an astronaut will not die, it will just be postponed while I live out my ice sheet dreams for now.

The winds are blowing the snow around and you can barely see the light on the Big House from the Green House. The wind are swirling and creating huge wind drifts. What a harsh, bueatiful and wonderful place. Let the winter begin.

More soon after the turn-over week is completed and I have a bit more time. Miss you all.

Last Blog for Awhile

2007-06-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well here is the final blog for my Greenland 2007 Season. There have not been many blogs this season and the final one is being writen from my warm office back in Seattle.

With all the complications I had little time, or energy, to do much outreach. I have added two links for outreach blogs that were done while I was at Summit. They are excellent Blogs. The Greenland Photochemistry Blog, by Jack Dibb’s group, sums up all the science and happenings at Summit Station. The Voyaging Teacher Blog, by Mike Pastirik, tells of Mikes first experiences in Greenland as a high school science teacher. Mike also was a great help to our Nitrate sampling experiment. He helped monitor the misters and bubblers while I was completing other science, so I will slip a quick thank you to Mike in here. These Blogs cover all the science and happenings at Summit while I was there.

During my time at Summit were we able to get atmospheric nitrate sampling up and running. This equipment will continue to run until mid August. Here is a picture of the misters and bubblers which are sampling the HN03 and NO2

I was able to complete my radar studies. I used a new luneberg lens technique in two 2-meter snow pits to get extinction length measurements at 37 GHz. Here is a picture of one of the pits where I am placing a snow saw at a specific snow layer. I also took multiple radar traverse lines to characterize layer variability over 100 meter traverse lines. Robin, one of the Summit mechanics, came along during the traverses to help lift the radar, the mount system is too high for me to lift the radar, and drive the snowmobile while I monitored the radar from the sled.

I took 48 snow samples for a soot study Steve Warren and Tom Grenfell are completing. This was a fun assignment because we had to get away from camp to get clean snow. Steve, the science tech, Sarah Wheller, a writer, and I took the snowmobiles out 40 km to do two 1-meter pits and gather snow samples. It was a beautiful ride with fresh sparkling snow on the ground and the sun shining.

Well here are a few things I learned this season: Things Break but there is generally someone who can fix it, Never have a non-automated 24 hour sampling method and There is always someone around to help. Which brings me to a few Thanks You’s. This season had many unexpected circumstances. When Dan left I was all alone trying to complete a job for two. Lots of people around camp helped fill in for Dan so I could complete our science goals. Special thanks go out to Kathy, Steve, Lance, Mike, Jack, Katrine, Barry, Robin, Bella, Brad, Jake, Robin, Sparky and Tyler. I couldn’t have done it without all your help.

Heat Wave

2007-06-11T17:18:00.001-07:00

I peaked out of my tent today expecting to see a white out. I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun. The wind was still blowing but had calmed down from last night. I had to put my earplugs in last night in order to sleep; the wind was rattling the tent walls so much it was impossible to sleep. Since the wind was still blowing today I decided not to do my radar pit and to take my turn as the House Mouse. The House Mouse is the person who does the camp dishes, helps the cooks, cleans the bathrooms, vacuums the dinning room, makes coffee, etc. Everyone at Summit has one day when they have to do the House Mouse choirs. I did mine today since the weather in the morning was not ideal to have the radar electronic out in. Mousing also gave me another day to rest a bit and be indoors with warm hands from the dishwater. Here is a picture of the Big house where you House Mouse.

Didn’t really need to be warmed up much today. The temps hit –5 C or 25 F. This is really warm for Summit. The sun stayed out all day and the winds quit around noon. It was a beautiful day. After I had finished my choirs for the day I went for a ski. Here is a picture.

I will sleep well tonight and dig a two-meter pit in the morning. I set the radar sled up this afternoon, so it is all ready to go. I am excited to finally be starting on my science. I got an update from Dan today. He is feeling better and will leave Thule on a flight for the US on Friday.

The cooks made some incredible peanut butter pie for dessert tonight. It was so good I just had another piece to keep me warm tonight though I doubt I will need it with all the sun.

Oh The Drama

2007-06-10T18:24:00.001-07:00

Well it has been quite dramatic here on the ice sheet the last few days. On June 7th, Dan and I were able to get the nitrate sampling up equipment up and running. We waited to turn on the sampling until the last C-130 flight left. Sampling started at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. Dan had not been feeling well on the 7th and was pretty tired after his first night sleeping in a tent. I took the first shift of babysitting the nitrate equipment to make sure it ran properly, to establish evaporation rates so we would know when to refill them and to watch for freezing. I was going to stay up until 2:00 am and then Dan would come on at 5:00 am. Around 1:00 am, Dan Skyped me to let me know he was not feeling well and was going to see the medic. I meet with Dan and the medic, Tyler, around 2:30 am on the 8th. I was told that Dan’s mouth was swelling from where his wisdom teeth had been removed, a requirement to come to Summit. At first we though he would be fine if he had some time off and some good sleep. I said I would take over Dan’s 5:00 am shift. I slept about 2.5 hours.

I stumbled out to Sat Camp at 5:00 am to find that some of the nitrate equipment had frozen. I fixed it and started sampling again. I went in for Breakfast at 8:00 am to find out that Dan was doing worse. By lunch there was talk of medical evacuation to Thule Air Force base. I called Eric and Julia at UW and filled them in on the situation.

I made it through the day checking the instruments every 3 hours managing a few 1.5 hours naps. After dinner I went back out to Sat camp. Katrine had volunteered to check our equipment through the night of the 8th so I could get a night’s sleep. I showed her how to fill our mist chambers and bubbler and thanked her profusely. I was looking forward to some sleep when they called me to the office on the radio. I walked back to camp to find out that an immediate medical evacuation had been called for Dan. The swelling in Dan’s mouth had continued and they were worried his throat could swell closed. A twin otter was scheduled to come in and pick him up.

There was still more drama, the twin otter pilots were in Nook which had 60 kts winds. The plane could not take off. Apparently the doors were almost blown off the hanger when they pulled out the plane. The plane was suppose to arrive at 11:00 pm on the 8th. It did not arrive until 5:00 am on the 9th. Kathy and Steve stayed up all night doing hourly weather observations for the plane while I got 5 hours of sleep. Kathy woke me up around 4:30 to let me know Dan was doing worse and the plane was arriving. I again stumbled out of my tent and stumbled some more on my way to the green house where I found Dan hooked up to an IV. I was told that Brad would fly with Dan to Thule air force base for medical treatment. I was glad that someone would be accompanying Dan. I walked with Dan out to the twin otter. I will post some great pictures later of Dan walking to the otter IV bag in hand. (Tyler the medic designated me the photographer for the evac so he could document it all.) The plane took off around 6:00 am and I headed out to Sat camp to check the instruments. I was exhausted. I knew I had to complete the sampling period which ended at 3:00 pm on the 9th. I took another 1.5 hour nap and couldn’t wait for 3:00pm. Finally 3:00 rolled around and I collected the samples and shut down the equipment. We had decided to shut down sampling so I could do my radar work. It is impossible to do both.

I came back to camp took a warm shower and put on fresh cloths. This made me feel much better. I had a good dinner and went to bed at 8:00 pm. I woke up today at 9:00 am. A great night’s sleep! I feel much better today and got the radar set up to do a pit tomorrow. Don’t worry though, because the drama has not ended. This evening after dinner the winds picked up to 30 kts. The snow is blowing like mad. If this weather continues there will be no pit tomorrow, too much blowing snow for the electronics.
What have I learned from this ordeal: it is not wise to take out your wisdom teeth to go to an ice sheet, never study anything that requires 24 hour sampling and, what I had already learned at Taylor Dome but am having drilled into me again, I HATE THE WIND. Feeling a little lonely on the ice sheet with out another UWer around. It is a first for me. Hopefully by my next post there will be a lot more data gathered and better weather.

Here is a picture of my tent with my skis outside. Hopefully when everything clams down I can use them a bit more.

At Summit

2007-06-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well I have been at summit now for about 36 hours. Everything with science has been so busy I have not been able to keep up with blogging, e-mailing or skyping. I am currently exhausted but am going to bust out a quick blog on what I have been up to. On June 2nd I woke up in Seattle at 4:00am to catch a plane to Albany, New York. I was traveling with Dan, a science technician from the Isolab at UW. We arrived New York, checked our science gear to make sure it was intact, and went to bed. Woke up at 3:30 am to catch a taxi to Scotia Airbase and then a C-130 to Kangerlussaq. When I arrived at Kanger I immediately started to see familiar faces. It was fun to talk to people and catch up on what they had been doing for the past year. I went for a hike up to the lake to look for Musk Ox. I was not disappointed; there were two lazily grazing by the lake. After my hike, I went to bed and appreciated my last night in a real bed.

One the 4th we took another C-130 to Summit. Mr. Mike, who I had just spent a few months with in Antarctica, greeted me getting off the plane. It was great to see him but he was leaving on the same flight I came in on which was really sad. There many more familiar faces at summit that made me feel right at home. I wanted to catch up but had too much work to do. The altitude adversely affected neither Dan nor me so we went straight to work hauling around our heavy boxes and getting them out to Sat Camp. Sat Camp is the satellite camp that is a quarter mile from the main summit camp in the clean air sector. We walk out to Sat Camp to keep the air clean for all the atmospheric sampling that occurs there. We will be using Sat Camp to sample Nitrate in the atmosphere for our friend Julia’s dissertation research. The first day we got our gear sorted and lab space set up. We had a great dinner and organized our tents for bed. We sleep in Arctic Oven tents at Summit.

I was all ready for a cold night. I got in my –20 degree bag with my snickers bars to eat for warmth in the middle of the night. I love sleeping in the cold because you can eat candy in bed all night and it is actually recommended. That in itself is a reason to go to an ice sheet. Anyways I got in my bed and did 100 sit ups to warm up my bag. I was so hot by the end that I had to get out of my bag. I put on my spa mask, thanks Wendy, to block out the light and fell asleep. Never waking up to eat my snickers. My alarm woke me in the morning for morning briefing. I got out of bed, put on my boots and walked all the way to the big house and up the stairs without falling. This is a big improvement over mornings in Antarctica, where I my morning clumsiness was often made fun of. I must admit though that my tent is the closest tent to the big house, the kitchen/dinning area at summit, a nice hook-up from Kathy. I didn’t get a heated sleeping unit this year because it is all boys this year in the Jamesway with no patrician. I am hating a bit on boys right now because the Jamesway is all boys and the C-130 Loadies didn’t put down the toilet on our flight to Summit because there were only 2 girls and lots of cargo in the way. So the boys could use the bathroom but the girls could not. This was particularly bad because I drank two liters of water at breakfast to stay hydrated for the altitude at summit. Yucky boys.
Today, after morning briefing, Dan and I went right to work. We got the nitrate sampling equipment set up with a few skype calls to Julia over a bad internet connection. We also started doing surface snow sampling a 0:00, 6:00, 12:00 and 18:00. This will also be our time schedule for checking the nitrate and doing the snow samples. Speaking of which, I need to get to bed. It is already 10:30 pm and I have the 6:00 am snow sample. I will ski out to take it. I am not looking forward to 6:00 am but I am looking forward to the ski. I hope it is another warm night. It has been windy and snowing all day but not too cold, -12 C about 10 F. Oh and sorry no photo's for this blog. Somehow I managed to put my camera in the bag that got palletized for the C-130. I will get some photo's posted in a few days when the science routine settles down.

Back to Greenland

2007-05-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

It looks like I will be headed back to the Ice one more time. Today I was deemed medically qualified to return to Summit, Greenland in June. This will be a quick trip to the ice, June 2-22, 2007. During this trip I will be making sure our labs nitrate sampling equipment is set up properly for the summer season and taking a few very shallow radar measurements. Check back in a few weeks for updates on the trip.

Sunday in McMurdo

2006-11-11T20:42:00.000-08:00

I had a relaxing Sunday in McMurdo. I slept in after a late night at the Freak Train Talent Show. I jumped roped in the show and had a great time at Galleger's, one of the bars. There are lots of interesting poeple here from all over.

Today I went to Discovery hut. A hut used by both Scott and Shakelton. It was built in 1902. It has Austrailian outback archecture, which was not very good for Antarctica. It was really cold in the hut, even back when th explorers were using it. Most poeple used it for shelter but would camp outside on ships if they could. After the hut tour, Joe and I went for a three mile hike. I posted some more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/lora.koenig/AntarcticaBlog

This will probably be my last post to this blog. We will be keeping the ITASE log up to date on a daily bases. Since I will be writing most of these check there for updates.

http://www2.umaine.edu/USITASE/logbooks/archives06/index.html

We will be leaving McMurdo for Taylor Dome on Tuesday, Nov 14

Pictures

2006-11-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

The pictures for the blogs while I am in Antarctica will be posted here
http://picasaweb.google.com/lora.koenig/AntarcticaBlog

The Trip South

2006-11-03T18:50:00.000-08:00

The Trip South

It takes a long time to get to Antarctica from Seattle. I left Seattle, with Joe, at 2:42 pm on October 30, 2006 and arrived Christchurch, New Zealand at 10:00 am on November 1, 2006. I am not really sure where October 31 went but it always sucks to lose a holiday. Joe wanted to bring a Halloween mask for the plane but decided the Federal Marshals and TSA may not find this amusing. I did eat some Halloween Peanut M & M’s on the flight, so I guess that was Halloween.

Speaking of the TSA, I flew for the first time with my less than 3 ounce bottles of fluids in my carry on. I figured this was a good idea since we would be in the air for multiple days. I was wrong. To start out, let it be known, I read the TSA website for traveling with fluids before hand. It says something like, “ less than 3 ounce bottles of fluid in a clear Ziplock bag…” I did not read carefully enough though because it said in a one quart ziplock bag. I had put my fluids in a gallon ziplock bag. Seatlle TSA sent me happily on my way through the security checkpoint. When I got to LAX, the most confusing and unmarked airport I have ever experienced, I went through the security line. As soon as my bag came out of the x-ray machine it was confiscated and I was pulled aside. My gallon ziplock bag with fluids was the offensive item. So offensive, in fact, that I had to be escorted out of security. I went to the store and purchased a 1 quart bag, put the fluids in the bag, stuffed the gallon bag in the quart bag and then cleared security. What if I would have had a liter ziplock bag?

The flight to Auckland was nice. I was sitting next to a man who’s son was a steward for Quantas, so we got all the business class stuff, nice headphone, toiletry kit, and lots of special food. I slept fairly well on the flight and was not super tired when we arrived Christchurch.

We walked around Christchurch for the afternoon. We at this point was Joe, another UW grad student, Andre, a driller, Brian, a radar guy, and I. We walked through the bueatiful botanical gardens and went to the Canterbury Museum where I got to sit on a really cool bike.

Our second day in Christchurch was clothing issue day. We went to the International Antarctic Center and received out ECW, extreme cold weather, gear. The boys went in one room and the girls in another. We each got two bags with lots of cloths in them. You try them all on and make sure they fit. Then you repack one bag for a carry on with all the gear need to keep you safe if the plane goes down. The other gear is checked through. The most fun gear is the big red parka and a onzie fleece unitard. Hopefully you will all get to see the unitard soon because Joe and I are going to coriograph a little ballet routine just for these outfits. Hopefully we can upload the video. We will make sure Terry Hughes is the lead ballerina. Oh and Joe is already writing the script to turn our adventure into a reality TV show.

So back to the trip south. On November 3, 2006 at 9:00 am we took off from Chrischurch in a C17. It is a huge plane with plenty of leg room. We had a very nice flight and arrived McMurdo Station to a cloudless day with mountains out all around. At 2:41 pm on Nov 3, 2006 I finally set foot on my 7th continent. I was pretty excited about that.

We immediately loaded Ivan the Terra Bus to take us on the 5 minute drive to McMurdo City Center. Shuttle Bill the driver and tour guide accidently hit on me. Here is the converstation,
Shuttle Bill, "Are you Single, here?"
Lora, "Umm, I am married I think that applies here as well."
SB, "No I mean did your husband come with you or are you single"
Laghter from all other Ivan bus riders who realize the ackwardness of the situation while lora considers how to answer the question, "ummmm, My husband is not here but I am not single."
SB, "Oh then you will probably be staying in that dorm"
Ivan riders bust into histarical laughter along with Lora, Shuttle bill turns bright red and mentions that he did infact watch the sexual harasment video in Denver.

McMurdo is much nicer than expected. The buildings are really nice and well done in the inside. I expected a much rough place on the eyes. McMurdo has everything you need. A post office, store with good stuff, video rental, gym, clubs, coffee shop and even an activities center. I feel like I am back in undergraduate school living in the dorms. I wish I had more time to participate in all the activities.

Today we started to sort out all of our gear for the traverse. I am very excited because al my boxes arrived with everything intact. The weather is good today, though overcast. The temperature in the day is around 5 Fahrenheit. The food is good, too. That’s all for now. I will probably post again before leaving McMurdo next week. As I will be writing an entry for the ITASE site so check it out if you want to know more about the people I am with and the work we are doing. Lora:-)

Off To Antarctica

2006-10-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Cold Lora
I will be leaving for Antarctica on October 30th for the US ITASE Traverse from Taylor Dome towards the South Pole. We should make it about half way. Click here for the ITASE Traverse Route to see where I am. We will be posting updates to the US ITASE logbook website at http://www2.umaine.edu/USITASE/logbooks/index.html
Check there for updates on my trip.

One Last Trip to the Ice

2006-06-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today I took one last science trip to the ice. Chris Shuman was headed to Camp Raven to take one last snow sample. He asked me to go along and help. It was supposed to be another turn around flight where we would get off a plane and get back on about a half hour later.

We were scheduled to leave at 10:00 but the plane was holding for better weather. We sat on the tarmack for awhile and finally took off. We landed at Raven. Raven is the camp where the 109th Air guard trains. There are two Veco staff there that groom the runway.

Our plane landed and we got off to take the samples. The plane was supposed to take off and land again. The plane took off but it did not land again. Instead it went back to Kanger with a broken radar. We were left to be picked up by a second plane schedule to land and do some maneuvers about a half hour later. This was great because we got to see Camp Raven.

I think Raven was my favorite camp. It is very simple, two weather port, a sauna and an emergency shelter. It is staffed by Lou and Mark who are married. It felt like walking into a little cabin on the Ice Sheet. We were given tea and soup for lunch.

Raven also is the site of the Dye-2 Structure. This is a huge building built by the military as part of the Detection and Early Warning system. It was designed in the late 1950’s early 60’s to detect missiles that may be headed towards the US. It was abandoned over night in the early 1990’s. We did not go in the building but it was huge from the outside. Before it was drifted in it would have been about 60 to 80 feet above the ice. I believe there were 5 more of these sites in a transect across Greenland.

We signed the Raven guest book. There is a guest book at Raven because it is on the route that most people take when traversing Greenland by skies. Mark and Lou told us briefly about all the interesting people that pass by.

On the ride home we flew first class again. This time we got to see a few Musk Ox out the plane window. I love flying with the 109th. Definitely the best flights of my life.

In the afternoon, Meredith and I went for a final trip around Kanger. We road bikes up to Lake Fergeson. It was 6 km round trip and a nice afternoon outing with only a few mosquitoes. We are going to make dinner tonight and go to bed early for the flight south (this means to NY) tomorrow.

The Ice Edge

2006-06-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well our flight that was supposed to leave today only took hazardous material and no passengers. This means that we will be in Kanger until the 14th. We made the best of the day by driving the dirt road about 25 miles up to the edge of the Ice Sheet. It was amazing. Here are a few of the shots I took.

The Flight Out

2006-06-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

I want to be a pilot. I just had the best flight of my entire life. By Kathy’s request Jake and I got sent out of Summit first Class. This means I flew out in the cockpit of the C-130. The cockpit is a much better seat than the cargo net seats in the back. First there was take off. We didn’t fire the Jato, so we ended up going up and down the skiway 4 times before we actually got off the ground. This was really fun from me because I could see all my favorite ski trails and runway flags that I would try to ski to one last time. Once we got off the ground there was a good view of summit from the sky. Then there was white ice sheet for a long time. Pretty boring really.

When we got close to the ice edge you could see the lakes starting to from. Then the ice edge, land, dirt and lakes. I was taking a few pictures when the pilot pulled me up to the window beside him and told me to hang on to a handle above my head. At this point he started flying the plane down one of the canyons leading to Kanger. He would tilt the plane to the side for every lake so I could get a good view. We flew down the fjord and circle down to the runway. I was still standing at the window when the plane said 300 feet. At this point I was instructed to buckle up for landing. Next thing I knew we were on the ground. It was amazing. I don’t think the FAA would allow this type of first class flying in the US. I have posted a few pic of my ride.

Before my flight our I did my last bit of science. Chris Shuman and come in on the flight for a turn around. Turn around means he came and went on the same flight. So we did some speed science. In the hour and a half that the plane was on the ground loading pallets and dumping fuel, we took the electric ski doo out and took 9 firn cores and some snow samples. We quickly boxed these into ice care boxes and got back to the flight. We were given 1:30 and we finished in 1:13. This gave me a chance to say some quick goodbye’s and hello’s to Joe and Mike who cam in to replace us. I had a great time and Summit, the five star resort of field camps.

I am now in Kanger relaxing a bit and waiting to hear about flights back to the US. I looks like we may have an afternoon flight so I may have to stay in Albany a night.

Last Day in Camp

2006-06-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

June 9th was my last day in camp. It was a pretty relaxing day. I slept in this morning and came to the big house for breakfast. I helped the House Mouse by vacuuming the big house. I House Moused on Wednesday. House mousing entails helping with cleaning, doing the dishes and helping the cooks. I really enjoyed this because I get to be indoors all day with warm hands.

After lunch Jeff and Katie, the Science Techs, let me help with a balloon launch. The balloon launch is for NOAA. The balloon carries a radiosond and an ozonesond. It measures wind speeds and the amount of ozone in the air. They use this to monitor ozon over Greenland. Jeff and Katie filled the balloon with helium in the mechanics garage and then they let me launch the balloon. It was very fun.

DISC drill tent

2006-06-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I went over to check out the DISC Drill in operation. It was super cool. The Disc drill will drill the next deep ice core in West Antarctica. It is being tested right now at summit. The drill is a new drill and I got a personal tour of the drill by one of the drills designers and engineers Jay.

This drill will be able to drill to bed rock in West Antarctica. It can pull up 4 meters of core at a time. The wench can run a 3 m/s which is really fast. This drill is innovative because it does not have separate inside core barrel. The chips of snow that are created from drilling in the ice are caught in screens inside the same barrel that collects the ice core. The drill head has 4 bits instead of three.

The operation works like this. The drill tower and core barrel starts perpendicular to the snow and the core barrel starts drilling into the ice. Once it has drilled the core the wench pulls the core barrel up. Once the core barrel is in the drill tower, the tower rotates down so it is parallel to the snow. The core barrel is then picked up by a crane that spins the barrel around and moves it to the receiving area. The receiving area is the red part of the tent. This is where they will label, partially analyze and package the core. When the core barrel is moved next to the receiving area the core is pushed out onto the tray. This is all happening because there are guys in the computer room running the drill. I got to watch while they pulled a 2.8 meter core up from 140 meters deep in the ice.

I especially like the wench. The cable that they brought to Summit is only 1500 meters long. The one they will take to Antarctica is 3600 meters long. I forget how many tons it weighs but it takes one Herc flight to take just the cable. The drill is quite neat because it was built in pieces all of which come apart and fit perfectly onto Herc pallets. Because the DISC drill is in test mode the ice cores are not being used for science. The cores are starting to pile up outside the tent. It was nice to be able to play with some of the ice core and not have to worry about damaging them for science.

100 meters of Ice Core

2006-06-11T05:21:00.000-07:00

On June 8th we finished drilling the ice core. We went 100 meters deep. Eric arrived on the 7th. He drilled the last core to the song “The final countdown” which Meredith and Justin had chosen. It was an easy and jubilant day in the morning at the drill site.

That afternoon Justin and I were tasked with unburying the ice core boxes and stacking them on a pallet to load on the C-130. This was a tough job. When the Ice Core boxes were brought back at the end of each day we shoveled a pile of snow on them. This creates an instant freezer. We brought back four boxes each day for three days, so we had three piles of snow. First Justin and I went to the task of digging out the boxes. This was hard work. Once the boxes were unburied we had to move them about 15 to 20 meters. Not very far but each box weighs over a hundred pounds. This is very hard work at 3000 meters. For the first pile, we completely unburied the boxes and then moved them. On the second pile, Justin turned our task into a Worlds Strongest Man competition. After I would unbury the top of the box Justin would grunt and pull the box out of the snow. I think they should add the sport of ice core box pulling to the competition you see on ESPN where men pull brick with there teeth.

Justin was very enthusiastic about this job. At one point I took a break and collapsed into the pile of snow we were digging out. I rested for a few minutes until Justin started digging out my snow seat. This made me get back up and start digging.

Once the boxes were out of the snow, they were stacked on a pallet. Eight boxes could fit across the bottom of the pallet. Herc pallet, however, can be stacked 96 inches high. So we put on the first eight and then started a second row. This was fine until we got to the third row which was at my eye level. Good thing Justin was tall. The fourth row was pretty funny. I would just support the weight of the box while Justin put it on top. We put the boxes with cores closest to the surface of the ice sheet on top. These cores were less dense and lighter. As you get deeper in the ice sheet the cores become denser and the boxes are about 20 pounds heavier.

At the end of the day, Kathy and Kim came out and showed us how to put cargo nets over the pallet. The pallet was then buried again, this time with the cat, to wait for its final trip back to UW in July. The ice cores will be shipped back on a “cold deck” flight meaning that the Herc’s cargo area will have no heat for the ice cores or the passengers. Then the boxes are loaded on freezer truck and driven to UW.

Drilling the Ice Core

2006-06-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

On Saturday June 3, 2006, we started drilling a 100 meter ice core to replace the one from last year that melted. We are drilling the ice core in approximately the same spot about 5.5 km north of camp. Two drillers run the drill. The drill goes into the hole and pulls out an approximately 1 meter ice core. It is not actually ice is more like really compacted snow. Once the core is drilled it is brought up and the core barrel is taken out. The core is pushed out onto a table. This is where I help. Once the core is out, it is measured and put into a plastic bag. I label the bag with the name, tube number, and depths. Example name: JEMS 2 Tube number: 3 depth: 2.12 m-3.17m. I also label this on a core tube, which looks a lot like a map tube or fly fishing rod holder only it is 4 inches in diameter and about 1.4 meters long. The core is then placed in the shade until 6 tubes are completed. Once 6 are completed, the 6 tubes are put in ice core boxes, basically these are cardboard coolers that are long and narrow to fit the cores. These are loaded on sleds and taken back to camp.

When hauling the ice cores on sleds the ski doo must go very slow so as to not break the cores. When we get to camp snow is dropped on top of the boxes to keep them cold until they are put on a palate and loaded into the C-130 for the ride home. The cores will not come back until mid July.

On our first day of drilling we drilled to 25 meters. Today we are drilling again. I worked at the drill site in the morning and am taking the afternoon to rest. When I left after lunch we were down to 38 meters. They will drill to 50 meters or so today, approximately half done.

The drillers were nice enough to let me run the drill. I drilled 102 cm of core from 24 to 25 meters deep in the ice sheet. This corresponds to snow from about 1980. Today they are drilling through WWII. Apparently two melt layers are seen right about WWII. Very interesting, did we bomb Summit? Why did the snow melt? They have seen these melt layers in all of the cores taken around this area so it was a wide spread melt. Interesting to think about.

Sunday in the Park

2006-06-05T12:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon, Pat, a mechanic who can fix any ski doo within an hour, organized a game of snow soccer. Snow soccer is a more difficult sport than expected. The entire strategy behind soccer is to plant your feet, make cuts and juke your opponent. Image trying to make a quick cut on slippery snow, as you can imagine it doesn’t work very well. Snow soccer should always be played in the forward direction with passes not dribbling. Do not try and dribble around your opponent you will eventually slip and fall. When playing defense do not try and rotate from running forwards to backward you will fall. Ok now that you understand the difference in strategy between snow soccer and real soccer remember that you are playing at over 3000 meters in altitude. Hope your lungs are healthy.

Here was my snow soccer strategy. Because I have been digging, digging, digging and skate skiing in the evening, my lungs are beginning to feel a bit better at altitude. My soccer opponents were mainly sitting taking samples. I saw their weakness and even though they were much more skilled soccer players than I, I would simple run after every ball. Even if I didn’t really want to get the ball, running would cause the opponent to sprint to get the ball first. Soon enough my mark was gasping for air and I was able to get a shot on the goal. Of course it would have helped if I could actually get the ball between the posts. At the end of the day I got in a good hours worth of running and one gooooooooooooooooooooooooooaal.

After soccer, we opted for a less running intensive game of snow volleyball. Oh I forgot to mention that my snow soccer career ended with me running after a stray ball. Please note how well this fit my winning strategy. As I was sprinting across the snow after my stray ball I was suddenly stopped. I had been cloths lined by the volley ball net guide line. I went out on injury, a large rope burn on my neck. I am of course fine. The soccer game ended in a tie and now to the point of this paragraph, snow volleyball commenced. More people were up for snow volleyball, so we played three games.

After all this Sunday activity I took a nap. Sorry I don’t have any pictures of all these rare snow sports. I will try and get some form other people. All the soccer running wore me out so I did not walk to my tent to get my camera.

No More Pits

2006-06-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last week was a hard one. I did 5 two-meter snow pits in 8 days. My science is now done. I have analyzed some of the data and backed it up on multiple computers. Last week I traveled over 100 km to get to my sites, learned to load and strap down sleds and was allowed to leave camp on my own. I was happy to have mastered all the skills to travel competently on an ice sheet. It is easier to travel around Summit because there are no crevasses and topography like there was at Swiss camp.

I went through three field assistants last week. Only Bob Hawley and Justin were insane enough to help me on two pits days. The upside is that working hard has allowed me to sleep well with the 24 hours of sunlight.

I have posted a few picture of me in my pits. First I dig the pit. Then I record the stratigraphy, grain type, grain size, density and Dimethyl phthalate casts of the snow. Dimethyl phthalate casts are taken by cutting out blocks of snow and putting them in Tupperware. You then add a chemical that at cold temperatures basically turns the snow into plastic. Later in the lab this can be analyzed. It is a way to take an exact replica of the snow structure home with you. While I am doing these measurements, my assistant starts the thermal conductivity. This part of the pit takes about 2 hours.

Once the thermal conductivity measurements are completed I dig a hole into the side of the pit. The hole is big enough to fit the radiometer inside with 1.5 meters of snow above the radiometer. The radiometer is a bit of a pain of an instrument for the field. It has to be constantly calibrated. This is done by pointing the radiometer at the sky. This has to be done out side the pit. So this is how my extinction length measurements go. I stand in the bottom of the 2 meter pit. I put the radiometer in the hole and take measurements for 2 minutes. Then I left the 45 pound radiometer to my field assistant out side the pit. The field assistant takes the sky measurements while I attempt to cut a perfect 10 cm block out of the snow pit. Now there is 1.4 meters of snow above the radiometer. Then the heavy radiometer is lifted back into the pit. Then back out, back in, back out, back in…. Each time there is less snow in front of the Radiometer and thus the extinction length is determined. This also takes about 2 hours. Then the pit is filled in, sled loaded, ski doo coaxed into starting again and I return to camp usually in time for dinner.

I am happy that my data has all been gathered. I have repacked my science boxes and printed the shipping labels to get them home safely.

GRIP

2006-05-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

Well it was another beautiful day on the ice sheet. This morning I downloaded all of my data and made a few graphs. I was very happy with the data so I took the afternoon off and went with the DISC drill team on a field trip to the GRIP ice core site.

Yes I know you may be asking what does a field trip look like on an ice sheet. Don’t worry I will tell you as well as post of few photos. Make sure you look out for the new red darthlora.

Let me go back a step. First the Disc drill team is group getting the new deep ice core up and running. This core can core for kilometers into the ice sheet. They are testing it at Summit this year and then in about 18 months it will start drilling the next long ice core in Antarctica. The Disc drillers are all really cool. They are easy to spot because they are all from Wisconsin and speak with accents. (Some claim to be from other places but I find this suspect because of the strategic use and command of the word eh and they are all drinking Milwaukee’s Best.) Actually there are so many people here from Wisconsin I think Summit may be annex into the state. The Veco sport Staff are running a close second in an attempt to claim summit for Montana. Actually there are no posted speed limits so maybe they beat the Wisconsin’s to it.

Ok back on track now that you know the people I am around. The field trip: We had no school buses just Naansen sleds behind skidoos. The uniform was red and puffy. Image a group of grown ups three to a sled all sitting on each others laps, legs out, bouncing around in giant puffy red coats, that was our transport. We ride in style. A special thanks to Michelle for lending me here puffy red coat, I fit right in.

It was about 25 km out to the GRIP site. The site was abandoned in 1993. It is now completely buried from about 1 meter of accumulation a year. There were many building but we can still get into one because people have dug a hole into the skylight in the roof. OK this is a little safety last but don’t worry we had a rope and Andrew the adventure medic. So to get into the building you slide down a hole/tunnel. You slide about 7 meters until you hit a skylight. At this point you push back the broken plastic of the skylight and slide through the hole where a ladder has been placed. Down the ladder and you are on the second floor of a geodesic dome. This I believe was a sleep loft and office judging by the bunk beds and desks. Then down the stairs into a kitchen area. Last time they measured it was about -55 F in the dome. For the first time in my life I had icicles hanging form my eyelashes. Your breath would instantly freeze onto you facemask and eyelashes.

On the bottom floor of the dome, we should have had about 13 meters of snow over head. Everything at the camp was abandoned. There was still food on the shelves and other random junk. There was a Danish newspaper from Jan 1, 1993. (Ok I can’t read the Danish months but I was told it said January, wish HC was here) The floors of the dome are all bulging in for the weight of the snow.

As we were leaving I got a picture by the drill shaft. I have now stood on the spot of one of our greatest Paleoclimate records. Very cool. To top it all off as we were loading the sleds Andrew the Adventure medic decided to deem the dome a hazard so we may be the last people to ever go into the GRIP camp.

The day ended with a BBQ and a game of snow horse shoes. I actually was quite pleased with my horse shoe skills, however, it was a bit slow of a game to play in the snow. Perhaps we could have a running game next time to generate more heat. -26 C -14 F out right now. Amazingly it really doesn’t feel very cold.

Summit Arrival

2006-05-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well I made it to summit. It was a great flight out of Kanger to Summit on a C 130. I have already forgotten the tail number of the plane. All the cool kids remember the tail number so they know which planes they have been on. I flew in to Summit with one of the coolest kids, Bob Hawley. He has helped me get settled in to Summit. On the flight I was able to get to a window and see the edge of the ice sheet. I also got to hang out in the cockpit for awhile. It was a super comfortable flight compared to the one over from New York. We had tons of space to spread out all over the cargo area.

Our plane was greeted by Meredith, Justin, Shelley and Aaron. Shelley and Aaron left on the plane I came in on.

I am amazed by Summit Camp. It is huge. I have included some photos. Kathy is the Camp manager and I have a feeling Kat and Julia put in a good word for me. Actually I know they did because Kathy gave me a real bed with a dresser in a heated jamesway tent. The jamesway tent is a large tent that looks like a half cylinder. Currently I am typing this while lying in my bed. I have a power outlet, heat, water, wireless internet, skype and a window. The food is amazing. I have already eating about 10 days worth of food in two meals. My first meal here was lunch. Rosemary and Sarah, the cooks, made homemade Macs and Cheese, my favorite! Also at Summit there are 2 TV’s, lots of movies, a gym, a perfectly groomed skiway which you can ski on, games, showers, flush toilets. As far as I can tell right now it rival the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa with much better food. I can’t believe this is field work. I have even looked for a mean hatch and there appears to be none. As a matter of fact there is a medic here just incase I do find a mean hatch.

Today was a rest day. I have had no troubles with the altitude. Tomorrow I will get my gear ready and get a snowmobile lesson. Should be digging pits in a few days.

Technical difficulties

2006-05-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

I could not get blogspot to upload my picture for the Swiss Camp Blog. To go http://students.washington.edu/lorak/swissblog.shtml
to see the photos that go with the text.
:-)

Swiss Camp

2006-05-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Had a good time at Swiss Camp. Left Kanger on a twin otter. We had breakfast in the morning at the kanger café. Koni was talking to people at the next table. It was apparent that they were Canadian. They were talking about how they wanted get home, Canada is not very far away, to watch the NHL championships. I laughed and noted that no one even missed the NHL when it was gone. I didn’t think much about this knock on the NHL until I got the tarmac to load the plane. It just so happened that the guys at the next table were the pilots. I apologized profusely for insulting the NHL while asking where the air sickness bags were located. The pilot just had a grin on his face saying you will pay for your commentary on the NHL. Even though the pilot could have gotten me back, we had a great flight. Rule #1 Do not insult the sport of hockey when you are on an ice sheet.

As soon as we took off you could see the edge of the ice sheet. It was about an hour flight to Swiss camp and we went right over Jacobshaven, one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. (see the photo it was amazing) We had a beautiful sunny flight. As we approached Swiss Camp we could see its three red tents as well and Ginny, Tom and Julie’s camp. I was very excited to see Ginny and give them their care packages. The landing on the ice was very smooth. It was about 0 C out. Not very cold no wind. It was gorgeous. There were 6 of us coming in. Koni, Jay, Kevin, Louis, Jose, and I.

We unloaded the gear and the plane left us. We started the two day process of digging out Swiss camp from a years worth of snow and Ice. We had to start the snowmobiles that are stored on the roofs and shovel out the snow that had gotten into the hallways that connect the tents. We also put up our sleeping tents. You get into Swiss camp through a hatch in the roof. Then you go down a steep ladder into the sauna room. This room connects to the kitchen and the “icey hall” that connects to the work tent and the sleeping tent. The sleeping tent is not used because it is half full of ice. You can see all this in the photos.

I call the hatch the mean hatch. You see the first few days at Swiss Camp were a bit misleading. It was beautiful warm and sunny. There was no wind. Since Swiss camp is on the edge of the ice sheet it is generally affected by large katabatic winds that flow down from the top of the ice sheet. About 3 days into being at Swiss camp the winds picked up. Then it was very difficult to keep the hatch from blowing closed. One morning when we had winds in excess of 20 m/s Jay warned us that the hatch could swing closed and kill someone so be careful. Well Jay was wrong. The mean hatch does not actually kill but it smashes and bruises hands rather well. Right before dinner that night I took out the slop bucket where we dump waste water. I was walking up the ladder, which was already my nemesis because it was really hard to carry boxes and gear up and down it without falling. I had opened the hatch before navigating the ladder with the approx 30 pound bucket. Just as I put my right hand on the top, the hatch swung closed. I must have put my left hand up and stopped the full force of the hatch from hitting my hand. In the end I ended up falling off the ladder into a puddle of slop with a very swollen hand. I immediately iced my hand which was rather easy on an ice sheet. It still hurts when I dig and I think it has a permanent bump on the back. I was lucky I didn’t break anything. Rule #2 Never open the mean hatch before climbing up the ladder.

I had a great 29th birthday on the ice sheet. I slept in until 9:00am. When I got flack for this at breakfast I said, “I can do anything I want today. It my Birthday.” At dinner Jay made sushi. Yes Sushi on the ice sheet. Swiss camp has the best food on the ice sheet. Anyways for my B-day party Ginny, Tom and Julie came over and we had all you can eat sushi. It was really fun. I also got a present from Louis, who is Swiss. I got a Swiss army knife and Swiss Chocolate. Rule #3 Eat lots of Swiss Chocolate instead of cake when celebrating birthdays on Ice Sheets.

Some more about the food at Swiss Camp. Yes we really eat well. We eat lobster, filet minon and cheese fondue. There is no official cook here but Jay Zwally is the unofficial chief. His cooking is even better than his science. (Jay basically started the field of passive microwave remote sensing of snow and ice) The only problem is that most of the food does look like the animal it came from. No matter I still ate it and it was great. I really liked the Lobster tail dipped in butter. I did skip all red meat. Koni made cheese fondue, yes it was from a box but he added special Swiss liquors to kick it up a notch. Bammmmmm Rule #4 When eating on an Ice Sheet go to Swiss Camp and make sure Jay is in camp.

Two journalists arrived at Swiss camp by helicopter. One was from a Swiss magazine named Facts, Thomas, and the second, Paul, from National Geographic Adventure. They arrived right after big snow storm, it snowed about 20 cm. Then the wind picked up and the wind blew in our faces for 2 days straight. This was not really pleasant. This horrible storm started a few hours after the journalist arrived at camp. I blamed the journalist for the bad weather. Rule #5 Journalist with nice cameras, that can not have blowing snow in them, will always bring bad weather to an Ice Sheet

So we sat in our tents for a few day. I watched Sex in the City with Ginny and Tom. Then I went crazy and decided I would take my measurements no matter what. I couldn’t stand being on an ice sheet and not getting data. This was a rookie mistake. I geared up in my Darthlora gear. A quick aside. Somehow all of my gear is black. When I get all geared up I look either like a snow ninja or Darthlora. The journalist loved my outfit as well as Ginny. I have posed for many photos doing ninja kicks and saying, “ Luke I am your mother.” See the photo with my lovely glasses that I have named Ed. Ok back to the rookie mistake. So geared up head to toe in goretex and I took on the Swiss Camp blowing snow. I dug my pit and jumped in armed with my Radiometer and Thermal Conductivity probes. What I forgot was a shovel. Within minutes my 168 cm pit was only 158 cm. then 140cm. I bragged the shovel. I dug while taking measurements at the same time. I struggled to keep the snow off the radiometer horn with one hand and shoveled with the other. I finally gave up. Well actually the key pad I use to start the equipment froze up. I brought the equipment inside to access the damage of blowing snow in all my electronics. The final damage that night was a broken Campbell datalogger key pad. I decided to let the rest of the equipment dry out over night before powering it up again. Then next morning I started the AC/DC converter used for the Radiometer and get this it caught on fire. Yes my first ever electrical fire. Who would have thought that adding a little water would start a fire. This was bad because I could not run the Radiometer with out the converted. I was very lucky that that day the journalist were leaving and the Swiss Electricians were coming in to install a wind generator. I basically attacked Karl upon hopping out of the Helicopter and got him to help me rewire the radiometer through a 100 amp battery lent to me by Ginny, which I attached to a generator charger. This got the radiometer back up and running.
Rule #6 When you are on an Ice Sheet bring Arcteryx cloths for your equipment as well as yourself.

A little about my science measurements. When we first got here it was above freezing. There was actually to much water and it was too warm to take many of my measurements. Then it snowed and turned into blowing snow which tried to ruin the equipment. Finally it cleared and we had great weather. We drove the snowmobile up 50 km and I got a really good set of data. I am very happy with the measurements I got. I took both Thermal Conductivity measurements and Radiometer extinction length measurements. The extinction length measurements are the first ever on an ice sheet. I hope they turn out well when I process them more back in Seattle. Rule #7 When it is sunny and Kevin helps you dig your measurement will turn out just fine.

Some thoughts on Ice Sheet life. Ice sheet life is not that hard. It has not been that cold -15 C one night but usually just below 0 C. The wind has been a bit harsh some days but a face mask make everything fine. There are no trees to hide behind when use the restroom on an ice sheet. I never really though about that before. We have a pea pole which I feel is self explanatory with out a picture. The worst thing about ice sheet life is snowmobiles. Why have a machine that you spend more time digging out and fixing than actually using. I think we should all have lighter equipment and skies or just use helicopters. The only time I have been cold has been on the snowmobiles. I have included a photo of the snowmobile in its most common appearance, hood up. The snowmobiles are mounted with GPS and you just follow the arrow to navigate on the ice sheet. It is amazing how disorienting a flat white ice sheet can be. Especially when you can not tell what is sky and what is snow. The GPS are essential when using a snowmobile. My hate affair with the snowmobiles started on my birthday morning, Jay told me to take the snowmobile about 1k from camp and use the GPS to navigate back. After using all of my energy to start the snowmobile with the pull cord, it took at least 15 minutes of constant pulling, I collapsed on to the seat. I pushed the throttle and started off the snow drift. I immediately drove into a hole with a another snow drift in front of me. I could not get out of the hole and was not heavy enough to rock the snowmobile free. I was not strong enough to lift the snowmobile. It was a good think I had only made it 10 meters from camp when I got the snowmobile stuck. I spent the next hour and a half crying in humiliation and digging the snowmobile out. Yes I am the first person to only make it 10 meters away from camp during my snowmobile lesson. The next day I went out with Tom and Ginny to help with a radar line. They gave me some ski doo and ski don’ts. This helped a bit. Also in the short time I have been here I have learned to replace spark plugs and drive belts on snowmobiles. I pretty much know all about the snowmobile engine because everything has broken on the them. I can’t believe people use these for recreations. I hate snowmobiles and they hate me. Give me a set of skies anyday. Rule #8 Never take a snowmobile away from camp if you don’t have two of every part in the engine.

The second to last day in camp it snowed hard about a foot of snow. The most they have seen. We spent a lot of time indoors. I watched some more sex in the city with Tom, Ginny and Julie. IN the afternoon we ventured out to dig out some equipment. It was rather miserable. The last day in camp was gorgeous. Huge snow drifts, no wind, lots of sun. A lot of work could have been done but In the morning we managed to break something on every ski doo. The camp turned into and assemble line of broken ski doos being fixed. One even had to be retrieved on a sled. That afternoon I started to dig my tent out of the snow drift it had accumulated in my time at Swiss Camp. I spent about an hour. Then Kevin and I started making snow angles. The snow was to lite to make a snow man. Rule #9 You must add water to ice sheet snow to make a proper snowman.

That night Ginny, Tom and Julie came over for the last dinner at Swiss Camp. A Swiss Cheese fondue. It was great. After dinner we played fresbie in the midnight sun. It was really fun. You could dive in the fresh snow. The wind was picking up a little bit. At 3:00 am I was woken up by the sound of my tent flapping. The Swiss Camp winds were back in full force and this time they had over a foot of powdery snow to redistribute. I did not sleep well that night. I woke up at 6:45 and stuffed my sleeping bag. I was not sure if the twin otter could land in these winds. I went over to Tom’s tent while he called in the weather. This was relayed to the pilots and they said they would fly. We started packing in the 20+ knot winds. My glasses were getting filled with blowing snow while digging out the tents. We broke down our tents in the crazy wind. It was really difficult the four of us all had to work on one tent at a time. We got everything packed and in a cargo line for the plane. Then we waited in the kitchen for the sound of the engine. The plane came in. It brought in a LA Times reporter. He was happy to see me in my Darthlora gear and for the last time I posed for pictures. This time I apparently had a long icicle hanging from my darthlora nose. Lovely, I hope that makes front page news. That morning was the only time my face mask froze up from the blowing snow. It was -16 C. we got on the flight for another beautiful ride back to Kanger.

I am finishing this blog lying on my bed at KISS. I have showered, napped and ate. I think I may go for a quick jog to burn off some of the Swiss Chocolate I have consumed. I will rest here again tomorrow and do laundry. Then it is off to Summit on the 24th.
I miss you all.

After a walk

2006-05-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Went for a walk to settle the stomach after pizza. Here are the pretty pics. We saw 3 Musk Ox. I felt quite sorry I had just tasted one. It is very beautiful, sunny and even warm 40 with some wind. If you look to the back of the landscape pictures you can see a straight feature which is the ice sheer. The other pics show the ox and kanger in all it's glory. Oh and the fjord out to the sea.