SNOW!

If you had any idea how stressed I get about food shopping for a single week, you wouldn't believe how stressed I get when food shopping for an entire field party for an entire field season. 15 lbs of ground beef, 30 sticks of string cheese, 60 Slim Jims, and 228 chocolate bars, to give you an idea of the quantities that we're dealing with. And we fully expect to be resupplied with more food and supplies about 2/3 of the way through the season. Grabbing our food today was the first time since coming back to Antarctica that I felt like we were actually going to be isolated for nearly 2 months, seeing all of that food lined up in front of our gear, ready to be packed away only to be opened when we get out into the field.

Amidst the meetings and field preparations, I've had very little time to update the blog or to keep in touch with people. I truly apologize. Today, we had an environmental briefing to discuss our impact at the various camp sites, a meeting with the communications center here at McMurdo to go over our radio communications with the base, the details about our daily check-in, etc., and our "food pull", where we meander through the narrow aisles of a seemingly post-apocalyptic food rationing station and take as much food as we think we will need for the field season. In total, we took 597 lbs of frozen and non-frozen foods, which should last us a good portion of the next two months. To be perfectly honest, even though I'm the one who decided on how much food to get, I have no idea how long it's going to last. The only thing that I can do is keep close track on all of our supplies, see what is going fast, and order more resupply as soon as we get close to running out... I'll just keep track of things and stay on top of our stock to make sure nobody starves to death!

We've had great weather here in McMurdo for the past few days - clear skies and calm winds, although the temperatures have been a bit cold (near zero degrees Fahrenheit or so). Today we got our first bit of bad weather - some low visibility, light snow (which accumulated to a little more than a dusting or so), and some fairly gusty winds coming out of the north. Fortunately, the temperatures have warmed a little bit (they're now around 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit), so it's not all that bad. I just hope things clear up before we leave for the field on Monday. I don't want to stay in McMurdo too much longer.

I forgot how bone dry the air is here! My lips have never been so chapped before in my life (and yes, I am applying Chap Stick regularly)! It's so cold, in fact, that when I roll around in my bed at night, the static electricity that builds up in the dry air is enough to create quite a spectacular light show. It looks like a distant thunderstorm - lots of little flashes but no sounds. It's pretty cool, despite the fact that my throat is constantly dry, I constantly cough, and my hands are chapped like it's nobody's business!

So tomorrow we have a pretty light day. We need to continue to pack and organize all of our gear, and we also have a tour of our lab facilities to make sure that, in the case of a fire, we know which direction to run and scream. We also need to confirm that all of our hazardous cargo (propane tanks, fire extinguishers, gasoline, etc.) has been cleared to fly in the helicopter with us. Then, on Saturday, we need to move all of our gear down to the helicopter pad, where they will confirm the weight of everything and develop plans on how to fit all of the gear and us in as few helicopter trips as possible. The people down here at HeloOps are fantastic at planning and can make even the wildest requests a reality. We also need to pick up our satellite phones, HF radios, and VHF radios as well and make sure that they are all working properly too. Then, we have all of Sunday off (as does the majority of McMurdo), and then we leave on Monday morning, assuming the weather is good! Then, it will be just over an hour-long helicopter ride into Wright Valley to our first camp site. The five of us will be dropped off first along with some of our essential gear, and then the helicopter has to turn around and pick up the remainder of our gear and then bring that back out to us as well. The camp put-in will take the better part of the day, and we can expect to do no additional work then - we'll have plenty of time to work in the coming weeks!

It's just about time to go grab a quick drink, read a little, and then head off to bed. McMurdo runs on a very early schedule (breakfast ends at 7:30am), so we have to get up early and go to bed pretty early as well. (To give you a hint, it's not even 8pm here yet). Anyway, take care, and I'll update soon!


Mark