In our webcast Saturday, Slawec described riding a skidoo as akin to riding a mechanical bull. The comparison fits because of the bumpy ride the skidoo gives as it travels across snow formations on the ice. The surface on the ground is much like a frozen ocean– with frozen waves like small “snow dunes,” called sastrugi. Because of these sastrugi, the irregular surface makes it dangerous to travel much faster than about 25 km/hr.

Unloading our skidoos at our field camp on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

This first video shows what a skidoo hauling a sled looks like. See how tricky it can be to pull them!

skidoopass.wmv (Windows)

skidoopass.mp4 (Everything else)

This second video was taken atop a skidoo as we rode into camp. While it really gives you a sense of how vast the ice sheet is, those averse to bumpy footage might want to steer clear.

skidoo_to_camp.wmv (Windows)

skidoo_to_camp.mp4 (Everything else)

Due to the winds that can pick up on the ice, some parts of the audio are harder to hear than others. Please be patient and adjust the volume accordingly– you really get to understand how hard it can be to hear people when it gets windy out there!

Our camp near Whillan’s Ice Stream on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

camptour.wmv (Windows)

camptour.mp4 (Everything else)

(Please click on one of the above links for the video.)

Earlier in December, I sent an audio dispatch in the middle of a storm that delayed our work out on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. I stuck my phone outside of the tent so you could hear the wind howling. Here are some of the pictures that accompany that audio– together you can get a bit of an impression of what being trapped in the storm was like. To listen to the audio dispatch again, click here.

The Storm begins.

Slawec prepares to brave the outside. Yes, he’s in there!

The interior of my sleep tent where I eventually took refuge — small, but very cozy. The wool blanket and foam pad serve as a carpet, and my sleeping bag is on the right.

Going to get water during the storm was a chore — winds were around 20-30 knots at this time, with higher gusts.

Doug and Slawek inside the kitchen/work tent during the storm. As we were unable to go do our field work, we spent the time huddled inside this tent together.

By the time the storm had ended, snow blown by the strong winds had nearly buried much of our gear. Here you can see the snow packed in around one of the sleeping tents. In the background, you can see the poles we used to mark objects in camp — a preparation made especially because of events just like this.

A lot of digging had to take place in order to uncover our newly-snow-buried equipment…

…a lot of digging. Here Rickard frees our sleds from the snow.

Journey to the Field: The Last Leg

The journey to our field site at Whillan’s Ice Stream on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet was long, with many stops, the last of which was at Siple Dome. From there, it was a matter of getting our selves and equipment out to the ice sheet.

Some of the most important pieces of equipment were, of course, the skidoos — the only things enabling us to travel from camp to our various research sites. So how do you get a skidoo into and out of a small plane? As these pictures show, you drive and lift it, using a ramp, some muscle, and some finesse.

The lift…

The muscle…

And the finesse.

Of course, landing a plane on an ice sheet is an impressive feat by itself. The Basler plane (a DC-3) is the largest bush plane used by the United States Antarctic Program and can land without a runway.

This photo shows how much cargo a Basler plane can hold. Our group had enough cargo to fill three flights.

By the time the Basler returned with the second load of cargo, we had set up the sleep tents. We watched the plane circle once over our camp before landing.

The Basler created a flurry of blowing snow during takeoff, leaving us windblown and all alone in the flat white, with only our essential survival gear.

The Last Stop Before Our Field Site: Life at Siple Dome

Out here, sometimes doing what would be a basic task at home (cooking, for example) takes a little ingenuity and spontaneity…

No electric mixer handy? Use the power drill!

Your feta is frozen in one huge solid block? Use a hammer and crow bar to break off some pieces for dinner!

Compared to our field site, life at Siple Dome was luxurious…

The jamesway (a solid insulated tent with a wooden frame, heating and indoor comforts) at Siple Dome is the cozy center of life there.

Siple Dome has a rustic little outhouse, secured against wind with a cargo strap over the top. Though it may look primitive, this was luxury compared to our later toilet tent in our field camp.

Siple Dome Weather Balloon

Sal fills a 10g weather balloon with helium. The balloon is used to determine cloud height for weather observations.

Sal releases the balloon and starts the timer. The balloon quickly flies off into the cloudy sky.

Sal watches the balloon with binoculars until it disappears into the cloud cover. He records the ascent time and reads the altitude corresponding to that ascent time from a chart. Now we know the height of the cloud cover!