Time to Go
It has been too long since I last wrote. I regret not having kept up with the blog as much as I did last year. I apologize to those of you who were following it closely. Since we are on our way off the ice to begin a few months of traveling, I think it would be a good time to start writing again.
The season has been eventful. Luci became the official interpreter for the Italian program when they came through town on various occasions and was publicly recognized for her efforts. I had a chance to try my own hand at interpreting. At the end of December there was an accident at the French Base of Dumont d”Urville, about 800 miles away, where a cargo handler broke his neck. Since they do all their re-supply operations by ship, the Italians used one of their small Twin Otter planes to pick him up and fly him here to McMurdo where they got stuck for a couple of days in bad weather. The patient spoke only French and the Italian doctor accompanying him spoke only Italian and French. Since I am the only one on the base with a decent grasp of both languages, I was called upon to assist during their stay here. After six days of immobilization, he finally made it to Christchurch where he underwent surgery. He was very lucky.
At about the same time, a saga of historical significance was unfolding. It started a few years ago when a team of Russian “researchers” landed at South Pole in an antiquated bi-plane; I think it was a Tupelev. It was experiencing mechanical problems and was forced to land. The passengers (and crew) aboard refused to get back on the plane in fear of their lives, and were eventually flown off the continent in American planes and their bi-plane was left at pole with an uncertain future.
At the beginning of this season it became more and more apparent that the Big Iceberg B-15 was going to cause problems with re-supply operations here at McMurdo. It had moved into a position where it was blocking the breakup of the seasonal ice in McMurdo sound and not allowing it to drift out to sea like it should. For the past few years the sister Coast Guard Cutters the Polar Sea and the Polar Star have come down to cut a channel in the ice and escort the tanker and vessel to the Ice Pier at McMurdo. But, this year, the Polar Star was in dry-dock in Seattle, its home port, undergoing major repairs to its propulsion systems. It was evident that there was going to have to be another icebreaker to take the place of the Star in McMurdo sound this year and the only one available to do the job was an ageing Russian Icebreaker, the Krasin. Someone at the NSF had the bright idea that they might be able to arrange some sort of exchange. The terms of the deal were, essentially, that the US program would help the Russians get their plane out of Pole if they helped us get our re-supply vessels into McMurdo.
So, around the beginning of the year, a large cargo plane owned by the Russian natural gas giant Gasprom arrived at Pegasus Ice Runway with a crew of 30 journalists and mechanics. Half flew immediately to Pole and the other half stayed at McMurdo documenting life with the US Antarctic Program. There stay went off without incident and they even got to document out annual New Years Day celebration of Icestock. After about a week of work they got the plane at pole running and were able to fly it to McMurdo where they dismantled it and loaded on the cargo plane to fly off the continent.
At about the same time, the Polar Sea arrived in Town and immediately began showing signs of propulsion system problems; the same ones that put the Star in dry-dock. The ship sat at the pier for a week waiting for divers to arrive and attempt to repair one of the props. It became more and more essential that the Krasin arrive before the channel began to refreeze. In the meantime, the Krasin, the fuel tanker Buck, and the Nathanial B. Palmer, and the Klebnikov arrived at the ice edge. The NBP is one of the USAP research vessels and the Kelbnikov is a tourist cruise ship. In a matter of days we had 5 ships in the bay. The Buck off-loaded its cargo and departed without a hitch. Soon after, the cargo ship American Tern arrived and the period of the season know officially as Offload, began. It is a week of 12 hr shifts, traffic and general chaos when the vessel is unloaded and reloaded with waste. This year it went smoother than expected and last week we all watched as the Tern, Krasin, and Sea left McMurdo Sound in a convoy; the last ships at McMurdo until next January.
With the end of Offload comes the end of the Mainbody season. The C-141s have been officially retired from the USAP and the last mission was flow last week. They have been replaced by the more efficient and reliable C-17. All the field camps have been brought in and we are beginning to see visible signs of a decrease in population as people are transported off the ice, 140 at a time. We are also seeing new faces and old friends returning for the winter. We have spent the day cleaning our room getting it ready for inspection. Our bags are packed and boxes of stuff to be sent back to the states have been shipped out. Saturday was our last day of work and we are scheduled to fly out tomorrow. Tonight we have our Bag Drag where we bring our luggage up to be loaded on a cargo pallet. Then it is just a matter of time before we are transported to the New Zealand summer.
We plan to do some sailing this year. We will spend a few days in Christchurch sorting out our tickets, visas, etc. and then fly up to the North Island where we are going to take a sailing course. It is a 5 day course where you spend 2 days learning practical skills and 3 in a 20ft boat on your own. After that, we fly to Australia where we have chartered a boat with 4 other friends from the Ice in the Whitsunday group near the Great Barrier Reef. At the end of March we are headed to Denver where we will be working out the details for employment next year and hope to get some snowboarding in. Keep checking back for updates. I promise.
Luke
What a treat!!! You are back. We are “plenty excited” about your folks trip to Italy. Keep the info coming.
B & J