Air NZ Blog #2 - Darryn

Hi from Scott Base. Well this has been of week of extremes as far as the weather goes. It has been an incredibly busy week with many highlights including a weather bomb.

The week started out with a continuation of Fire Drills. The New Zealand Fire Service Trainers continued to throw different realistic scenarios at us. One of these also involved bringing the fire crew and ambulance crew complete with fire engine and ambulance across from the American McMurdo Base to put them through a combined fire drill. A lot a great learnings came out of the drill.

On Tuesday I had the privilege of driving half of the crew who had just spent the winter on base across to Pegasus Airfield to catch the C17 back to Christchurch. It was both sad and happy days for everyone on base as for those leaving it had been home for almost 13 months. The drive itself is approximately 20 kilometres out onto the Ross Ice Shelf. The opportunity to watch a C17 land on the ice was simply amazing.

On Wednesday and Thursday we completed two days of Antarctica Field Training. This meant setting up camp on the ice shelf and being taught how to survive out on the ice. This involved building Scott Tents on the ice shelf, constructing a kitchen/dining/shelter area by cutting slabs of snow out and building a wall for protection. At the same time we constructed a bench/food preparation and cooking area and a trench big enough to walk around while staying out of the elements. We were doing all of this in temperatures around 30°C below zero. We had already prepared our sleeping bags back at the base which consisted of four separate layers as well as an insulated pad and a sheepskin to sleep on.

The temperature overnight dropped to 34°C below zero and in the morning with a 20 knot wind it felt more like -53°C. The cold was unbelievable but the experience will also be unforgettable. That morning after dismantling camp and returning the camp to how we had found it we drove up to an area called Castle Rock which provided amazing views of the Ross Ice Shelf and Ross Sea Ice. There were virtually no clouds in the sky but temperature never improved.

Friday was a regular day at work but the weather had something different in store for us. That evening the temperature began to climb until we reached -11°C. When you looked south you could see a wall of white heading our way. The wind was perfectly calm and then suddenly within seconds the wind had reach 45-50 knots and visibility had dropped to almost zero. This was how we stayed for about 36 hours. On Saturday all movement on base was restricted to the building but if you went outside you were required to have a radio and buddy with you. It was a good day to clean the base and get everything in order.

Sunday was a special day but I will leave this for my next blog. All I will say is I had the opportunity to explore an historic hut that only 200 people per year get a chance to visit.

Thanks for following and catch y'all next week.