A sneaky-peak from the inside, looking out

This morning I did my duty at 6:55 am and called MacOps (the communications center in McMurdo) from my Iridium Satellite phone, from my sleeping bag, drowsy and gravel-voiced. To my not-so-little surprise the voice on the other end told me that the Basler aircraft was arriving in our camp, to pick up Christine, Mike, and myself, at 12:30. 

As this was not the plan I'd gone to sleep knowing of, it was a bit of a shock, and it took a few hours to wear off the bad mood of being torn from a place I've grown to love so much, and the people I've grown close to there. On the other hand, now that I'm back in McMurdo I have complete control over the blog and therefore will take a few moments to introduce to the world the defenseless and priceless "Twotter Boys."

The season began with Chris and I trying for a week strait to fly into the Fosdicks on the Basler as the advance team; hence our title of Basler boys. Well, now Tim and Chris are all that remain of G097 and they are about to embark on a week of close support day trips with a Twin Otter out of Siple Dome. They currently are still at our Fosdicks "Icefall" camp, and will be flown to Siple Dome sometime in the next few weeks, but I predict they will be forced to winter over somewhere in Western Antarctica. Certainly once the Dig Team unburies the hundreds of pounds (or kilos, Tim) of Cabin Bread and bagels from last years cache, Tim and Chris should have plenty of food. 

Because it is late and I am exhausted I will cut to the chase. May I present to you, the reader, the "Twotter Boys:"

Chris day one of Fosdicks Season

Chris day 52 of Fosdicks season

Tim day 0.

Tim in his jacket made from an old Scott Tent.

The Twotter Boys

So boys, touche, as they say in the French. Have fun out there. We (I) already miss you. 

And on another note Monday was Christine's 50th birthday, which was her 10th in Antarctica and 5th in the Fosdicks. Happy Birthday Christine! We all enjoyed a jaunt into a BEAUTIFUL crevasse that Tim, the crevasse hound, discovered for us.

Christine's 50th Birthday crevasse

Christine's Crevasse

One Last Switch...

Sometimes we are looked at by the aircraft co-ordinators in McMurdo as a
priority, sometimes we are a backup, and someties we are a backup to the
backup. We were the latter this morning. Chris woke up at 2:45am to take
weather observations, which consisted of looking at the sky and
describing cloud types...their types not their various shapes which are
open to interpretation. For example, in the altocumulus clouds Chris
claims to have seen an elephant and a lawnmower. Danny saw dancing
ladies. Nevertheless, the news arrived shortly after 7am that yes indeed
a aircraft was headed our way. The backup to the backup was a go! We
were busy as beavers stripping camp and eating copius quantities of
cheese. The arrival of the Kenn Borek Basler aircraft (similar to the
DC-3 in the infamous final scene of Casablanca) brought the 3 person dig
team tasked to extract our 2010 cache and fresh apples! After a quick
turnaround of less than one hour, the aircraft departed carrying
Christine, Danny and Mike back to McMurdo; leaving behind Tim and Chris,
colloquially known as the Twotter Boys.

The Twotter Boys are the last of the geology party in the Fosicks. They
plan to explore some last rock outcrops and continue to drink tea and
eat copious quantities of cheese. Within the week they are expected to
be moved to Siple Dome camp to begin aircraft-supported geological work
in the greater region around the Fosdicks. Stay tuned...

Holiday time in the Fosdicks

Christmas and Boxing Day have arrived and been WELL celebrated here in
the Fosdick Mountains!! The holidays follow on a solid three weeks of
great geology field work in the Fosdick Mountains. More on that is to
come, when we have the possibility of posting suitably-sized photos!!
For now... really must highlight the Christmas day that involved
green-pea omelettes with salsa (Tim selected the green & red Christmas-y
color combination); enthusiastic opening of gifts from the Canadian Lady
Seals; exciting stream crossings on the Ochs Glacier en route to/from
Marujupu Peak and fabulous migmatites at that locality, and the
culmination of the day with a magnificent multi-course meal prepared by
Tim Burton, mountain guide- chef extraordinaire. The Christmas meal
started with asian-seasoned stir fry shrimp (Appetizer 1) and sauted
sirloin (second in sequence of appetizers). Cornish Game Hens were
roasting merrily away, all the while, in the cubic Coleman camp stove
ovens -- they, the MAIN course, served with roast-y potatoes, dressing,
mixed veg, and exquisite whole grain seed loaf BAKED by Tim in the same
Coleman ovens (so moist, hearty yet delicate, and delicious!!). Such a
feast! But the Main was not the end. A Cheese course with that
scrumptious bread (we had brie, compliments of Pam Hill and, by no
choice of their own, courtesy of I-464 in southern TAM, who couldn't be
sent their 'freshies' request at the right time)... then a break for
dishes/clean up so things could settle a bit before ANOTHER one of Tim's
specialities: steamed pudding with raspberries and blackberries!! Oh
my. Even now today it seems a dream of plenty and splendor.
The celebratory mood could not end with Christmas Day, however...
because today is my FIFTIETH birthday (Christine's). Imagine having
that decadal birthday in Antarctica while doing field work in
magnificent migmatites! Hard to beat -- especially considering the
number of birthdays in Antarctica by now (this is the tenth one),
including a prior decade b'dy here in the ever-loving Fosdicks a few
years back (30th!).

Happy Christmas, everybody!! And a good New Years to you in a few days'
time.

G097

Don't shoot the messenger...

To some, the weather forecasters in Charleston speak in code - eighths,
overcast, blowing snow, drifting snow etc. To some they speak in normal
english and you decide to write it in a notebook in your own code. For
some this code is like mission impossible, it is only decipherable for a
few minutes, after which the meaning of your code has self destructed.
To some it's not even possible to remember which notebook things were
written in, which forecast is the right one.

None the less, the "storm" is here, the forecast and messenger were
right in some ways, and we are eating pancakes and about to have our
first bloody mary of the season...

The calm before the storm...

The "Great Storm" of 2006 in the Fosdicks has become a larger than life
story that is a topic in ever Happy Camper and refresher class nowadays.
There were flying snowmachines, 100 knot winds, and essential camp
failure. That team had a lot of bad luck working against them during
that storm which in the end left their camp half destroyed as ski-doos
flew like bingo wings through the air and grenades of volcanic rock were
aloft. That experience has given the Fosdicks a badass reputation,
though this season has been quite mellow.

Before she left Fawna told me her side of that story. Being the humble
and understated person that she is, Fawna's recollection was very
matter-of-fact, and made the storm seem quite a reasonable affair to
have experienced. The truth is that its hard to desribe the
freight-train sound the wind makes at gale force speeds as its beating
on a tent wall.

This morning we received a forecast for winds that should exceed 70
knots over the next few days. The forecaster called the storm system
"robust." All that said we have had a few forecasts for high winds this
season and nothing much has materialized. The weather forecasters in
Charleston are starting to sound a little like the boy who cried wolf.

This morning Brian, the forecaster I spoke with said, "I know it looks
good now where you are but it will change." Today was crystal clear blue
skies and no wind to speak of. We were digging in tshirts around camp.
As I write this it is 11:15 pm and everyone is tucked warmly into bed.
The barometer has been steadily dropping since dinner and the sky is
filling with high cirrus clouds. To the north and east the sky is
certainly darkening. There is no question that a storm will be upon us soon.

We are camped on the windward side of Mt. Lockhart, which we call
"Icefall Camp" on account of the massive icefall that occasionally
provides some frozen pyrotechnics. On the satellite image of our camp,
the glacier looks like a large soft marshmallow of snow, as compared
with the rough-hewn snow and ice surfaces that populate most of the
Fosdicks. We are hoping the wind here will be smooth rather than
turbulent. Our tents are anchored as well as they can be, camp is
fortified, and our Kindles are all charged up for the duration.

It should be another one of the "normal" Fosdicks storms and will
involve a few days of tent time. But who knows. It could end up like the
other storms of the season and be mild, or our camp location could be so
good (read: lucky) that we don't get too much wind at all. I think it
will be somewhere in the middle. Luckily we are behind on our booze
consumption and way ahead of schedule with geology work. Tomorrow is a
well deserved sleep-in which will be followed by pancake brunch and
bloody mary's.

We'll let you know how it all goes...stay tuned.

Danny

News via the Australian contingent

[Hi! Tim and Fawna writing from Perth this time]

We have had some correspondences with the team and things seem to be going extremely well. Reports of good weather days and trips out to the west to visit the 1070 massif (so called as this is its measured summit elevation). Harvesting the cache has continued as well as extensive geo-debating.

Here in sunny Perth it has been a hectic week back at work, but Christmas holidays are close and mangoes are in season, so quite the change for us. We have had time to go though some of the 3000 photos (not including 3000 rock photos!) and come up with a photo journal viewable here:

Fieldwork photojournal
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.981753870821.2452989.61010791&type=1&l=9cc9a2912d

and another album from our experiences leading up to the fieldwork
Pre-fieldwork shenanigans
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.933817296101.2444753.61010791&type=1&l=f91d9d8848

and here's a couple of pics from Australia:

Yummy food you just can't get in the Fosdick Mtns!

Grizzly Adams turns to Babyface Tim

Our Xmas destination
...will be admiring a new type of granite while thinking of
you guys getting back to McMurdo. Catch up soon!!!

We Found It. But...

Fuel caches are like bigfoot...hard to find and no one believes you when
you find one.

Armed with the latest in ground penetrating radar (GPR), the Basler Boys
ventured to the purported location of the missing 2010 Fosdick Mountains
fuel cache. Using a gridded search pattern, the GPR, and copious amounts
of hot chocolate they managed to locate a geophysical anomaly under the
surface of the snow.

Danny probed the anomaly and found something. The scientist-in-training
Chris questioned his finding, as any good scientist will do, and
attempted to test Danny's hypothesis by repeating the experiment by
continuing to probe the snow. With his burly Canadian strength, Chris
managed to penetrate the anaomaly in question, nullifying the Danny
hypothesis. Fortunately, after several iterations of Danny saying 'I
found it' and Chris recanting 'I don't think so', they managed to find
an object unpenetrable by Danny's probe. Then they had lunch...

After lunch, Team Commonwealth attempted to dig into the anomaly to
confirm beyond any reasonable doubt that the cache does exist and was
where it was supposed to be. After digging 5 feet, morale was down
until...a red piece of cloth appeared at the bottom of the hole, which
represents the top of an eight foot bamboo flag pole. For reference, the
poles stood no fewer than 7 feet tall above the surface last season!
However, Chris the skeptic questioned Tim's findings as any good
scientist will do, and challenged him to reach a barrel. After another 3
feet, CLINK CLINK CLINK denoted the finding of the elusive Fosdick Fuel
Cache!

The rest of the team arrived an hour later to assist with the digging.
Unbeknownst to the them, the deviant Tim managed to cover the hole with
a sled and convinced the rest of the Team that we had no luck finding
the cache. Shouts of diapproval and profanity rained down upon Team
Commonwealth until Tim removed the sled to the joyful cheering of G097.
Depth to the barrels: 9 feet. Snow condition: hard as concrete.

The next day using a chainsaw, skidoo, shovels, and copious amounts of
hot chocolate the team braved heavy snow and winds and extracted 9
barrels of aviation fuel. Each barrel took an average of 1.5 hours to
remove from the ice-hard snow. Now there are only 21 barrels, 2 tents,
white gas, and all the year-old biscuts and crackers than you could
shake a stick at. Yummy.

(Photo attached - Danny, Chris and Tim at the bottom of the hole with
the cave behind hiding all the cache!)