Building Camp
Now that our put-in is nearly over and we have slid into the standard Antarctic work schedule (six days of work; Sunday off) I can keep updated more regularly. The Carps are still here but have finished putting up structures. We now have twelve structures in the camp. Most of them are RAC tents. They are arched tents that replace the Korean War surplus Jamesway that we used at Siple Dome. Both styles are made up of standard size sections of frame covered by insulated blankets. Thus, the size of a tent is determined by its length an amount of “sections”.
Going down the line: there is the generator building that houses our 40K generator which at the moment is not operational because of a faulty injector maladjusted valve. Next is the Mechanic shop where Dave, our mechanic not only works but lives. Both are hard-walled structures. These are followed by the “science tent” which is an eight-section RAC where the grantees will set up their work stations when they get here. In the meantime one of our equipment operators and a carpenter are squatting there because they can’t handle the sub-zero temps in their tents. The carpenters have their own meeting tent set up in the middle of camp which with come down when they leave in a couple of weeks. It is a Polarchief (or simply “the Chief” which is essentially a type of Yurt.
At the moment I am writing in the communications tent; a little five-section RAC where my little office shelf is. My informal role as the hazardous cargo handler (I got a US military certification back at McMurdo) demands a certain amount of paperwork from me and gives me the perfect excuse to have a sort of office of my own.
The massive eighteen-section RAC tent and hard-walled module hybrid that constituted the dining room/galley building is next. This is where Luci and John spend most of their day. John, the other cook, is also from Downeast Maine and works at the Jordan Pond House in Acadia NP. Put-in for the cooks can be a daunting task. In the first couple of days they have to improvise a kitchen from racks of frozen goods and equipment. Most of their time is occupied by gathering and melting snow for water. They have spent the week organizing all our foodstuffs and putting up shelving inside and out to house it. Next to the Galley is the washroom/recreation tent. With a similar setup as the galley, this hybrid’s RAC tent extension has only eight sections. These two buildings will be equipped with snow-melting devices once the 40K generator gets put on-line. In the meantime, the Rec RAC is still a work in progress. One of the Carps has recently reconnected the shower outfalls and we put a big pot on the heater to melt snow for showers from a solar-shower bag (just like at Rifugio Boccalatte).
The five-section Medical RAC tent is next. Our “Medic” is a former Texas republican spin-doctor turn Wilderness Medicine Instructor. Considering the current size of the camp, a dedicated medic seems a bit of overkill to me but “safety first”, you know. In theory, when there aren’t people bleeding profusely or suffering a cardiac arrest he is supposed to do weather observations. But we also have a person whose sole responsibility is to do weather obs so the medic’s job becomes doubly redundant.
The last three tents in the row are berthing tents (not to be confused with birthing tents which would be a violation of USAP policy). The first is a Weatherhaven. Very similar to the Polarhaven we had at Siple (only twice the size) and serves the same purpose; to house the Twin Otter crews when they are working out of WAIS. The other two are grantee berthing and are both eight section Jamesways, identical to the one at Siple right down to the year of manufacture, 1951.
The last structure is the most important and the sole reason for the existence of this camp, the Arch. This is where the gigantic ice-core drilling apparatus will be housed. Architecturally, this structure is very similar to the tents but their walls are made of steel and therefore rigid. Next week, a crew of construction workers are coming out to finish work on the Arch. Since the drill is being put on the re-supply vessel that won’t make it to McMurdo until January, the drill won’t be installed and put into operation until next year some time.
All but three of these buildings (the generator shack, the shop, and the Arches) are heated but semi-archaic drip-fuel stoves that we run on the same jet fuel that runs the heavy equipment and all the aircraft: AN-8. My primary role is to keep all these buildings and the equipment fueled. We have two 10K bladders with a central pumping station that can either fuel or take fuel from a variety of aircraft. Because the pump has to be warmed ahead of time, I organize the heavy equipment operators so that I can fuel all of them once every-other-day. At the same time I fill up out “day-tank” which is an 170-gallon tank on a sled which I tow around to all the buildings to fuel them on a regular basis. In addition to the AN-8 fueling infrastructure we also have little hand pump (hurdy-gurdy) stations to fuel Herman Nelsons (aerospace heaters) and snowmobiles from drums of gasoline and pre-mix.
Next week our numbers are slated to double with the arrival of electricians (to set up the power to the buildings) an antenna rigger (to set up our sat-coms) and the Arch construction crew who will be excavating a hole under the Arch to make room for the drill. Things are changing everyday out here.
Tags: Antarctica, Italia, USA
Luke
037EC
Hi, Is it possible that my son, Rob is the General Assistant at WAIS with the carpenters? If so, please tell him his Mom says hello! I stumbled onto your wonderful blog tonight while I was trying to learn more about WAIS. Thanks for all of the great info. I’ll be checking it often.nrMissy Foote
Yes indeed, Rob is here. They are scheduled to leave on tomorrow’s flight out. They are going to be spending the day building their gear into Air Force palettes. My brother Jesse met Rob in Denver and I picked them up at the airport in Christchurch. Both of my brothers down here live in VT. He’s a good guy. I am happy for him that he was lucky enough to make it into the field in his first month on the Ice.