iceblog!

Q and A

Some have asked questions that I just wasn't finding the time to answer. Storms are good for remedying that.

Q’n’A (with some of my own thrown in).

Men with Beards
As Leopoldo pointed out, a lot of the men down here have beards. As he also pointed out, beards become iced in the field. Mustaches, too. While most of the moisture may come from breathing, one can not deny the contribution of the snotcicle.

I asked about this ice phenomenon. Is it not uncomfortable? I asked. Warm, was the response. A beard is warm, a beard covered in ice is warmer.

Safety
MV asked about safety. Out caravanting around the volcano by helo and skidoo, do we have some safety system? What about weather changes?

I wondered about weather changes myself. What happens if we’re on the other side of the volcano, and a horrendous storm moves in?

So far, the weather changes have been gradual enough to respond in a timely manner. For instance, the nasty weather which is upon us now took several hours last night to materialize.

We always carry radios with us in the field. They come in quite handy for non-emergencies, and so far have only been used for such. When working by helicopter, either the helo shuts down and stays with us (“closed support”) or drops us off with the appropriate number of survival bags. Survival bags are large dry bags containing food rations, a stove, fuel, sleeping bags, a tent (I think), and a trashy novel. I may be missing something. It would have sucked to break into the survival bag on BOMZ yesterday. Skank was moving in at the hut as we set off for BOMZ, and we were slightly worried that we wouldn’t have been able to get back—not because of bad conditions at BOMZ, but because of bad conditions at the Hut. The most likely scenario, had that been the case, is that the helo would have taken us somewhere else—likely McMurdo. Which wouldn’t be the end of the world. Hot shower……

How do you keep warm?
No one asked me this, but I’ve decided to share anyway.
Layers. Yesterday, I had on two inner layers and two medium layers and then my windjacket. It was almost cold enough for me to switch to big red, though (the puffy red jacket—very warm). Hand warmers. We have boxes of those hand warmer packets that you just open and expose to air and then stuff in your gloves. I find these very, very helpful. I generally wear some windstopper gloves which I purchased myself in the States under an issued mitten shell, so that I can pull off the shell when I have to do detail work like pushing buttons or screwing or unscrewing things. I put the handwarmers inside my gloves, and pull my fingers in when they get particularly cold—like when I get skidoo thumb. Handwarmers good. Like I’ve mentioned previously, the skidoos have heated handles, and that helps, too.

My toes also tend to get cold. I commonly reach a point while out in the field where I become somewhat useless. It’s my cold point. My fingers are cold, my toes are cold, I’m a little hungry, I’ve finished a task and am no longer engaged, and I’m ready to go. I move more slowly, and motivation goes down the toilet. I tried wearing toe warmers yesterday to prevent, or at least postpone this. I didn’t feel the warmth of the toe warmers, but I didn’t have cold toes, either. Still, I was ready to be done sledging. Luckily, we’re never out in the field that long. Out for a few hours, back in to heat up and get some food and beverage.

At night, we take a hottie to bed. Yeah, no, I wish—not that kind of hottie. (Bridget said, before I left, “You’re sleeping in a tent? How are you going to stay warm? You’re going to have to hook up with someone.”). Our hotties are hot water bottles: put very hot water in a Nalgene, stick the Nalgene inside an insulating cover, and you’re good to go. If it’s not so cold, leave the bottle in the insulation. If it’s particularly chilly, like it was last night, take it out. Wear a hat to bed. I also have taken to wearing one of those eye masks that they give you in airplanes (I saved mine from the flight to Aukland), which helps me get to sleep in the 24 hours of daylight (is it still daylight, if it’s during the night? Is it even the night, if the sun is still shining?). I never thought I’d actually use one of those goofy things, but it’s just like a lights out. Time to go to sleep. It’s a good way to trick my brain.
[Glorious picture of me in sleep mode was accidentally recorded as a movie, and is not currently available.]

Plus, I’m sure it looks awesome. Which brings me to my next topic.
Beth, how do you still look so attractive while doing field work in Antarctica?
Some would say it’s not showering, some would say it’s the sexy goggles, some would say it’s the puffy coat or chic blue boots or the greasy hair or acne. I think it’s the snot bubbles.

Unsolicited commentary:
Ricky Martin

What is it about Ricky, anyway?

I love him. Or, I thought I did.
I found this tape for $5 Kiwi (about $2.50 US) in the store at Scott Base, and was immediately thrilled. Good thing I brought my walkman. The tape’s got all the best—“Livin’ la Vida Loca,” “She Bangs,” “Shake Your Bon Bon” (‘I wanna be your lover, You’re only latin lover’), “Cup of Life,” AND a version of “Maria.” Not only that, but it comes with all the words.

I was very excited about listening to this tape. I loved that Ricky, propped up on my spare wind pants, was just about the last thing I saw every night. It cracked me up. Ricky in Antarctica. The night finally came when I found some AA batteries and could get some sound out of the old walkman. I got all fired up when I heard the beginning of “Maria,” and was ready to start busting a move in my tent. It’s kind of hard to bust a move in a mummy bag, though, and it was too cold to get out. Then, as it turned out, the song was in English, and lost some of its charm. Also, as it turned out, all the songs inbetween the hits sounded like cheesy 80’s love tunes which were fine when I was listening to the radio in 5th grade and thought that was what love sounded like, but no so charming now that I’m old and wise. Or cynical.

I’m sorry, Ricky.

After listening to 1 ½ rounds of the tape, I decided I couldn’t listen to Ricky again for a while.

On a positive note, that was over a week ago, and I might be able to start listening to Ricky again soon. Until then, I’ll have to stick to Joan Baez, the Pixies, and the Beastie Boys. It’s all the same, anyway.

Posted by beth at December 23, 2002 10:48 AM | TrackBack