Sea Ice Training

Yola!

The beginning of this week I completed sea ice training. Sea ice training is a full day class where we learn how to profile cracks in the sea ice and determine if they are safe to drive over or not with whatever kind of vehicle we are traveling in. It was a pretty fun class. It ended up being more of a photo op than anything else. We just drove around the sea ice and took pics. We stood at the base of two glaciers, the Erebus glacier and the barne glacier. Erebus comes out from the base of Mt. Erebus which is an active volcano. We also saw two new icebergs that just broke off at the end of last summer. We also saw seals. It was from a distance but we saw them laying out on the ice.

Other things that have been happening: Three flights have supposed to arrive by now. There are about 80 people leaving and 350 coming in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who you talk to, the flights have been cancelled for the last five days due to bad weather. I am driving a shuttle to pick people up when they land for the first three flights if they ever happen. A lot of the winter overs who were scheduled to leave are getting pretty upset with the cancelled flights. To them it seems like they may be trapped in Antarctica forever.

I heard a story about a WyoTecher here who got wasted his first night on the ice and came home and peed in his roommates dresser drawers and his boots. Techers...some things never change.

Also, I have been told there is a man coming who some call the "robot man" because he makes 90degree turns. Apparently it is a fun game to step in front of him in the hallway because he has to go around you, but he makes 90 degree turns to do it. I can't wait!

Tomorrow I start my new job as a general assistant. I believe we are going to go help set up a camp for what is called "happy camper." It is basically outdoor survival class. They show us how to survive outside in Antarctica. We spend the night outside and everything. Tomorrow I'm just helping set up but eventually I will take the class.

Hope everyone is doing well at home.

**Above are some pics of sea ice training: From the top

1. One of the new icebergs

2.Top of Mt. Erebus

3.Part of Barne Glacier with Erebus in background

4.Class checking out some cracks

5.The hagland named "moonraker" that we traveled in

6. Drilling holes in the ice to check depth (ended up being something like 20 ft. or more we decided it was safe)