EARTHQUAKE

It isn’t every day you are thankful for forgetting something, or sleeping until exactly the moment you decided to wake up, or for having exactly the thing you did for breakfast, which took an exact amount of time to eat. But today I was thankful for every little decision I made, normally good or bad, because here I am, alive and well, having survived the 6.3 magnitude Christchurch earthquake that has claimed the lives of many. (The news now says dozens, the official count was in the 70s and maybe more than a hundred are missing from two buildings…the statistics are bound to rise for the worse.)

I was on the public library’s second floor using the free wireless internet when the ground started to shake. “What the hell is happening,” I thought, and then my mind said, “Christchurch…history of recent earthquakes…this is an earthquake…what to you do in an earthquake…dive under your elementary school desk of course…” So that’s what I did and went under the table on my hands and knees and wondered about my future as the ground moved back and forth, like I was on a blue gym mat that people on either side were playing a tug of war. The earth felt like it moved more than a meter in each direction during the big moves.

While the Earth was moving back and fourth, I wondered what was to become of the afternoon. Is my destiny to join the historical masses that have been trapped inside a building after a natural or unnatural disaster? Am I to be crushed inside this building? Am I to be injured by flying debris? Not much time to ponder…Time to get out of the library. “I’ll go down this isle, no, I can’t do that one…or that one…or that one…” as the floor between the isles was a mound of books. No books were left on the shelves. All were strewn about the floor after having taken flight during the shaking. I am happy I was not in a knife shop.

Outside I went to join the hordes of folks wondering what to do where to go. No one around me seemed hurt and wanting to make contact with my family, who I knew was soon to hear about this on the news, I checked to see if the library wireless was still active. It was and I made a gmail phone call to my girlfriend, Glynny, who is to join me here in a few days, and to my parents. The voice was breaking up, but I was able to tell Mom to go to facebook chat. Thank you facebook (small aftershock just now – seems like we’ve had a hundred today)…though it is not easy to convey the emotion of being in a large earthquake over facebook chat to those who haven’t just been though what I had. Was I scared? Well, I thought there was a chance I was going to die, so yeah, I was scared.

There were folks everywhere like me not knowing where to go or what to do except move away from buildings. The chaos was in part fascinating. Which direction is safe, will another quake happen, are buildings about to fall, are my friends okay? How can I help, who do I talk to, where am I supposed to go? From the internet, I was able to learn that it was a 6.2 or maybe 6.3 (can’t remember) and that it’s center was 10 miles SE of the city and at a depth of 5km. Though the quake that hit Christchurch in Sept. as 7.2 or so, it was 20 miles away and at a depth of 10km. (There’s another aftershock…a little rumble and a little rattling…) Because of the relative shallowness and proximity to the city center of the quakes epicenter, there was substantially more damage than what occurred in Sept. The Sept. quake also occurred during the night, so very few people were out and about, contrary to today’s quake at 12:51 pm. Eventually, after numerous littler aftershocks, I started to make my way back to the YMCA. On the way there was much destruction. Scaffolding in a crumpled pile, buildings that had avalanched onto the street, asphalt that had buckled like the ice pressure ridges of the Antarctic, and water in the streets from burst water pipes.

The YMCA looked like it had survived unscathed but I was told by a representative that no one would be allowed to go inside until the building inspector had declared it safe to do so. Knowing there were likely more aftershocks to occur and that the demand for building inspectors must far outweigh the supply, I headed to the botanical gardens for its open spaces and for lack of somewhere better to go. The city center was being evacuated and I joined the flow to the west where I eventually met up with some Ice friends. It was very nice to see familiar faces, to know that friends were still alive, and it was good to share stories. Some had been in the gardens all along, but some had seen people crushed right in front of them, others saw moving cars crushed with falling debris. All of us were a bit shaken up.

After a bit we walked to a clearer part of the park to escape the potential hazard of large trees. Those trees are strong! They are not going to fall….wrong. The trees, yes, are strong, they did not break, but the connection between the roots and the soil around…not as strong. We later saw whole trees uprooted.

After borrowing some phones we finally made contact with the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) of the US Antarctic program and they escaped damage and were sending shuttles to pick us up. We eventually arrived, still not knowing what to do except line up to use the internet to let friends and family know we were okay. Immediately there was a facebook group organized to find Ice folks who might be affected by the quake. A supposed 500 Ice folks are in the country, and there were over a hundred that landed last night with me, so most of them are likely to still be in Christchurch. On request for Erin Heard, a fellow rigger, looking to help spread the word of safe folks, I posted all the names of people at the CDC along with those that had checked in safely onto the facebook page. Facebook is an amazing thing at times like these. It became a way to instantly spread information to masses and served as a gathering point in trying to locate friends and family.

Hours were spent compiling the names, making sure they got entered properly, and adding more check marks by people who had turned up safe and sound. Many are safe and there must be close to a hundred people now at the CDC. I was very happy to have that job of sharing information. It gave many people much relief, but there are still many who have not checked in. There are lots of Ice folks here, and there was a lot of damage. I don’t like the odds and worry about the coming days. Lives have been lost or forever changed.

The New Zealand response was swift. Within minutes there were folks everywhere with hard hats and orange safety vests, starting to organize and direct things. Clearly they had learned from the recent earthquake history of the city and they seemed ready. There was hope of power being restored by this evening, but we shall see tomorrow.

The hundred of us are a mixed lot. Some have nothing with them, some just a passport. Some a backpack with all their camping gear. Some will get their bags back, some are most likely never going to see their stuff again. My things are in the YMCA, which, as luck would have it, is an emergency structure and shelter built to withstand a quake with a magnitude in the 8’s. Some folks are supposed to fly out tomorrow, but have no bags, no passport and no chance of seeing either again. Supposedly the US consulate is going to give some emergency paperwork and ease the burdens of transport.

It is now past midnight, and my eyes are finally tired. I tried to go to sleep earlier, but the body would not allow it. A bit of adrenaline still going through the system. It is not often I chose the spot where I lie down depending on what can go flying or fall down upon me. It is raining out, and I feel very lucky to be in a place with friends and phones, computers and internet, electricity and toilets, drinkable water and sleeping bags, food. Earlier this afternoon, I reflected on the fact that I had no idea if I was going to be able to eat anything tonight. It is an interesting thing to think, “I have no idea where to find food.” Yet, sadly, to much of the world it is an all too frequent occurrence. Many others of the city are now in public parks under tents. It is not a pleasant night to be outside and I pray for the residents of Christchurch and the people who have been affected by this. I am happy to be safe and sound. I got lucky. I had walked in places where had the quake happened a little earlier or later, I could have been injured or maybe killed. It’s all just a random chain of events that led me to be where I was and I am mighty thankful things went the way they did. Now I wait to confirm this for the others who have not been heard from.

And now I’ll try to sleep, though it’s hard to escape the feeling that the ground is ever so slightly still moving back and fourth. I’ll try now to get some sleep for who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Off The Ice

I am now thousands of feet above the southern ocean packed in a sea of seats and red jackets. There is an excitement in the air which relates very much to the excitement that exists as the C-17 flies southward in the beginning of the season. People around me are very excited about different food options, the smells of the living world, and the freedom to do what they choose.

I am lucky in that I do not feel burnt out, my job, for the most part is not mundane. I still marvel at getting paid to fly in helicopters to remote locations with one or two other folks to do our work, which often involves climbing and assembling towers and then dealing with tools and hardware sometimes at heights of one hundred feet off the ground. I am one of the lucky ones and do not take it for granted.

So now we fly north leaving behind the schedules and routines of the last three, four, or for some, six months. No more free room each night. No more free food. No more free gas. At the same time, no more scheduled meals, no more alarm clocks, no more 6 day work weeks. At least for a time. Many folks do this year after year, and so their off-ice time becomes just that – their off-ice time.

Yesterday, I went for a wonderful run around Observation Hill. It is a three mile loop that gets one a feeling of being far from the station. It was a favorite of mine this last week as the sea ice was disintegrating more and more with each passing day. How wonderful it is to see the open water in front of the station. It has not opened this much in some ten years! It is amazing what a difference it makes in the feel and energy of a place. The cold frozen continent suddenly becomes a living place. Whose waters connect it to rest of the world. I think, I theoretically, could get in a boat leave the shores of McMurdo and some time later (after lots of adventures) arrive back in Massachusetts! What a splendid idea! The smell of the ocean alone is enough to stop and marvel at the sea. A small whiff sets some neurons or something in my brain firing. McMurdo now included in my memories and experience of being on the sea. What I wouldn’t have done to have a little sailboat to do some exploring and see things from the perspective of the sea. Someday…someday…

During my the run, the wind was so light, I stopped to sit down and look upon the sea. It was warm enough sitting on the volcanic rock of Ob Hill, even in shorts, one long sleeve shirt and a vest, to sit for nearly 20 minutes and enjoy Antarctica around me. The water was making noises like whales as the waves found channels and other features in the ice. Then there were the penguins making noises just as we’ve all become familiar with from watching March of the Penguins. And then of course, the water breaking up the sea, taking one jig saw ice piece after another and quietly pulling it north so new pieces could be pulled. Had I left just a week or so ago, I would have missed the most beautiful part of the season.

The sun finally did set my last two nights. Not until almost 2am, but the darkness at those times (yes, I did wake up to see the light of the sunset) was refreshing. A change of light does wonders for the spirit.

And now a little interruption to look out the window near the rear of the plane. I don’t want to miss the Southern Ocean if the clouds have cleared! … Nothing but clouds below. Someday I shall be there making this off-ice transit on a ship. Someday hopefully, on my own ship!

People around me partake in various activities. Many read, some play with their computers, many sleep and some just stare blankly in front of them at nothing in particular. I’ll later write in my journal, continue monitoring the window at the back, look at other people and wonder about their lives, but mostly look around at the exposed wires and ducts and systems on the inside of the C-17 and then dream from there. So much to learn.

Nighttime, for the last 3 months, has been out of reach. Even though the sun set the last few days, it was for a very short time and it never went very far below the horizon – perhaps not even the 6 degrees necessary to qualify for civil twilight. Darkness lies to the north. And with darkness comes the magic of being able to see past our atmosphere, into the heavens beyond. Trapped have I been these last months. One of the pleasures of climbing mountains or flying in planes or helicopters is being able to see long distances. One of the pleasures of living on Earth is being able to see far beyond it.

North to the night, to the living, to the color green! Thanks for following along!

Back To Byrd Camp

Back to Byrd camp to take down the tower and antennas for the season which is all but complete. Many of the camp staff has left and all the buildings are being taken apart and stored on a winter burm, which is a raised section of snow to minimize the burying in the winter blowing snow. I spent three days there, we had splendid weather for the most part. -15 to -25 C which was cold, but I was still able so skate ski and run on the skiway.

The outhouses.

My tent.

My yellow spaceman adventurer friend.

And a video for the kids at The Learning Center for the Deaf and for Bruce B.!

Wind Generators and Rhomic Antenna Towers at Black Island

A Black Island visit was next on the list to service wind generator towers, the big high frequency rhombic antenna towers and to check the outer covering of the dome that protects the big satellite dish inside.

We had to shut down the entire station's communication with the US. Woke up at 12:30 am, while most of the station was asleep, to repair a few rips in the super strong fabric that envelopes the dish. It is super strong but the wind tears over Black Island and this combined with little volcanic rocks can sometimes do some damage.

Cape Royds

This past week, I was sent to Cape Royds to remove all the comms equipment off the tower there. Cape Royds is the home of hundreds of Adelie penguins and was also the home of one of Shackleton's expeditions. The hut that his crew built there in the early 1900s is still there. So I was excited to be out there - to see the little penguins, and to be in the presence of Shackleton. (Endurance was the book recommended by my sister, Farley, that first got me interested in Antarctica.)

We pulled the antennas off tower, dug out some cable from under the snow and ice and then had some time to explore. Shackleton's hut was very neat, though I was not able to go inside as entrance is strictly controlled by the international conservation agreements. It was very neat to see the hut though (with canvas on the outside as restoration is in progress.) We could see the doghouses, the toilet, the trash heap, which I really would have liked to go through... and the weather station. Now I need to go back to my books and read about the hut and life at the hut. It's sort of like being where the astronauts walked on the moon!

The little Adelie's did not disappoint either. They are very curious, but used to researches who spend a season at the cape. Endlessly entertaining they are. They make a lot of noise and go to and fro, walking and sliding on their bellies. I think it is the way they walk upright that makes them unique and enjoyable to watch. They're almost like funny little kids. I'll let them speak for themselves:

It was wonderful to see the water up close and to really be on the coastline of a non-frozen ocean. We took some time to hike along the water and enjoy the area, and the views. Most of the time I was dreaming of sailing down here from New Zealand. We even saw one rise of a Minke Whale!

That's all for now! Three of us are currently at Black Island which is the satellite receiving station for all of McMurdo. (McMurdo can't see the satellites because Mt. Erebus is in the way. Black Island, a 15 minute helicopter flight across McMurdo Sound, can.) Climbed a 90 footer a few times today to restring a big HF four tower antenna. Here for a few more days.

Thanks for reading, hope all is well wherever you are!

Mt. Erebus

Last week, three riggers, including me, went to Mt. Erebus. Our job was to put up a 20 tower and then mount a 300 watt wind generator on top of the tower. We had tried to do this project a few weeks before but it was one cancellation after another. So from sea level up to 12,000 feet we went, in two separate helos. As soon as we arrived and started to organize our gear the clouds came in and we had doubts as to whether we were going to be able to leave that night. There was the Lower Erebus Hut not too far below us, but we weren't too keen on spending the night 12,000 feet higher than we had been that morning.

We had a little time to spare so I took a hike up to the crater rim. I could not see much, but I could see the steep drop that eventually would lead to a bubbling molten lava lake. It was neat to be on the rim of the most southern active volcano in the world and to be at the top of Ross Island! On the way up and down I passed many interesting frozen lava bombs that sometimes reminded me of ringwraiths from the lord of the rings.

We finished the job, had the generator working and everything packed up and ready to go. Though we could see downwards a few miles, we were in a cloud and the helos could not reach us. Eventually both helo pilots told at two separate times, told us to grab what we could and get to the helo as fast as possible. The helos can make their own cloud as they take off at that height and with a lot of moisture in the air, and we could hear the importance of hurrying in the pilot's voice. We had to leave a bunch of gear on the mountain but these were recovered a few days later. Next day...to Cape Royds!

Tall Towers

Two weeks ago we went up to T-site (short for Transmission site) to fix the rhombic antennas. They are used for talking with New Zealand, though these days with satellite phones, the rhombic antennas are a back up communications system. Four 80-90 foot towers make up the antenna with three wires hanging one over the other between them making what we call a curtain. One of the curtain wires had broken so we needed to string a new one.

This is Observation Hill in the background. "Ob Hill" is mentioned in many early explorer books of 100 years ago and was the scene of the Up Ob Hill race of Christmas Day. My time: 7 minutes, 11 seconds (of suffering).

Our next mission was aptly named, "TALL TOWER." For a week we had been trying to fly out to a site about 100 miles to the south located on the Ross Ice Shelf. Unfortunately, the weather was cooperating and we had a lot of time on standby. With time running out, it was decided that we would traverse to the site to put up the 100 foot tower. The site is along the over-land route to the South Pole so there is a relatively groomed road out to the site.

We had three tractors with us and rode in the "kitchen module." This is much like being below decks on a ship, everything always moving, sometimes crashing around the mod, sometimes flying across the mod but thankfully nothing broken except a bottle of soap. It took a day and half to arrive at the site.

For the evening, I chose to sleep in a tent by myself rather than in the sleeping mod with other folks. I like sleeping in the cold air, and it gives me a quieter space to read and relax.

The following day, we arrived and after the tractors helped dig out our anchor spots, they helped us raise the first 40 feet.

Then the climbing began. Section by 10 foot section. 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. We use a gin pole to extend above the highest section we're working on, then haul up the next section from a pully on top of the gin pole, while the tractor pulls the opposite end, very slowly. Slowly it went up and thankfully nothing was dropped from such heights!

Once everything was all up we had to put the horizontal science and weather monitoring mounts at heights of 12, 25, 50 and 100 feet. (The equipment will be put on later this season or maybe next year).

When all was done, we took pictures and headed home!

CTAM: Central Trans-Antarctic Mountains

CTAM:

CTAM Camp from above!

I spent last week at the CTAM camp. CTAM stands for Central Trans-Antarctic Mountains. It is a beautiful location with mountains all around, about an hour and half away from McMurdo on an LC-130. It is basically one of the most beautiful airports in the world, with two Bell 212 Helicopters, and a Twin Otter airplane all stationed there. During the day, it is a constant influx and outflux of aircraft and between the three aircraft, LC-130 flights in and out during the week, McMurdo communications and field party groups originating from CTAM, there is lots of traffic on the VHF radios, the HF radios and the sat phones.

The two Bell 212 helicopters. I love helicopters!

We had beautiful weather the entire week and I skied almost every day on the aircraft ski-way. I would put on my skate skiing boots in the morning and ski around camp from tent to tent as a faster way to get around, all thanks to my friend Jay's excellent grooming.

Tent City. Because the sun never sets, tents become greenhouses often 65 degrees F!

My first duty was to take the HF tower down and reconfigure the antenna to reduce the noise that was coming from generator. We ended up moving it farther away from camp and changing the antenna type, which seemed to do the trick.

My shadow form up on the tower.

Flying!

Once the tower was done and the HF (High Frequency - long range) antennas was figured out, it was time to go flying! We had two repeaters to put up (one to communicate with the aircraft and the other to communicate with field camps. So out to the mountains we went!

Mt. Falla, where we put up a relay to retransmit a signal to and from a repeater.

The relay and helo on the top of Mt. Falla. -25C above 11,000 feet!

The equipment had good enough lines of sight so that towers weren't necessary, just little tripods that could see into the valley. It was fun to be on a mountain top, in the cold and in the relatively thin air. To get to the far peak we needed the repeaters on (Mt. Kinsey), we had to fly over the Beardmore Glacier. This is the route Robert Scott took to get to the south pole only to arrive and find Amundsen's abandoned tent there. It was pretty neat to fly over and imagine sledges, dogs, ponies and men down below finding their route across the glacier 100 years ago.

The Beardmore Glacier, used by Scott to get to the Pole in 1912.

The mountains near camp.

Saturday night festivities: golf lessons...(and "Golf Team" photos.)

For our one day off, we got to explore, driving a few snow mobiles to the local hill, going for a hike with some geologists. We found petrified wood and traces of old forrests from long ago when Antarctica was not so far south. Pretty wild to see wood fibers in the rocks on this slope. Just as wonderful was the views. The Trans-Antarctic Mountains are endlessly stunning.

Looking for the best site to put the repeater...Mt. Kinsey.

To the Dry Valleys and Moore's Bay

I made it back from Byrd after 8 cancelled flights arriving to town at 1:30 in the morning aboard the LC-130 aircraft. Needless to say, I was a bit tired. But always there was work to do. On Thursday I went to the Dry Valleys to do some work on a few repeaters on the ridge to the south of the valleys overlooking a few of the camps. It is a wonderful place and many memories came flooding back to me.

Looking back to McMurdo Sound. The water is out there!

The following day out to Moore's Bay, past Mount Discovery named for one of Captain Scott's ships about a 100 years ago. The Moore's Bay camp is looking for neutrinos. We spent a bit of time digging out some old antennas and dug out a bit of the tower that was installed a few weeks ago.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled to fly out the CTAM camp on the Beardmore Glacier to put up a few repeaters on the local mountain tops. I'm looking forward to returning to a field camp where life is a bit simpler. It's been above freezing in town for a few days!!

Still working to make contact with Dad on the HAM radio, but I did make contact with Hawaii and Georgia. Getting closer to Massachusetts! Hope all is well! And thanks for reading!

A Week at Byrd

Day 6

Byrd Surface Camp:

What was to be a short two day stay has turned into 6 so far...Erin and I arrived on Wednesday expecting to finish work by Friday evening so we could fly out on the next available flight - Saturday. But our equipment and hardware did not show up on time and we have been left to scrounge around. We did well and we were able to borrow tower sections, uni-strut metal bars for antenna mounting, a wooden 4x4 to be used in place of a tower, extra cable and many other things. Improvising is regular at field camps in the Antarctic Program.

Camp is located on the plateau, there is nothing in sight but what has been brought to the camp. There is a line of shelters used for medical, materials, comms and other such important things. The most important and biggest of the structures is the galley. Past all the structures is Tent

City. A grid of approximately 40 tents that we all sleep in. Shelters, tents, lines of cargo on wooden pallets, outhouses and a bunch of vehicles. That's about it. And a continual wind West.

The temp hovers around -18C which is around 0F. It is quite comfortable with our ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear but when the wind is really blowing (like almost all the time) one needs to keep the skin covered except for short runs to the outhouse or pee flag.

We've now had 7 flights of the LC-130 canceled for various reasons. Mostly weather before the left "the deck" at McMurdo and two have been turned around - one for a cracked windshield and the other, today, came within 80 miles, circled for an hour, and then returned to McMurdo much to the disappointment of the nine folks that have been waiting to head back to McMurdo for what's getting close to a week.

The HF (high frequency) antenna is up as is the irridium satellite antennas which gives the camp a data connection - 1/1000th of the bandwidth of a normal household in the US - for the approximately 50 people who are here. No web surfing, just a simple email account.

To pass the time, something which comes relatively easy to me, I've mostly been learning morse code from my ipod. My dad and I both have our ham radio licenses and being that we're nearly 10,000 miles away voice contact may require more power than we have on each radio. But morse code can make the distance, amazingly enough. Last week, during a test, I could hear him sound out a few signals. So I've spent my nights listening to dits and dahs - and reporting on the sample contacts I've been listeing to, to my partner in crime, Erin...much to his enjoyment.

I like the field camp life. It is colder, harsher and the community tighter. No regular email, no regular phones, just VHF radios (which, naturally I love) throughout the camp. We entertain ourselves with Boggle and speed Scrabble. Lief is simple and I can't complain. But work is all but done here and I am looking forward to returning to "Mac Town" to continue learning the trade of a rigger, which I am quite enjoying. (Only one three hour flight away).

That's all for now. Hopefully two flight tomorrow! I hope all is well.