Apprent-ICE Blog #8

It's not until you're minding your own business walking down the hallways and reach out to open the door, do 25,000 friendly little volts come flying out to shake your hand! Apparently due to the insanely low humidity of around 12% and low air pressures here in Antarctica, means there is a large amount of static build up, even wooden benches have given me a shock!

This week we had our first visit with Dr Richard Harper, the lead physician at McMurdo (thankfully it was for training based around prevention and treatment of cold temperature injuries). 

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the cold temperatures - that wasn’t cold! This week has been cold! Scott Base has plummeted to -48°C with windchill over that past few days, which makes for an interesting time working in a massive uninsulated formally used Hanger on the edge of the sea ice. I am working inside with two jackets, two pairs of socks and gloves, insulated overalls and boots, and if you aren’t anywhere near the heater, burning 100L of petrol a day, then you're still in pain!

That being said, it has probably been the most enjoyable and productive working week here to date. The hanger is getting a new floor of 17,500 paving blocks!! Once complete, this will be used for base storage. The team of four Defence force carpenters and another four of us from the HFC crew have been hard at work levelling off the sand base course and laying paving blocks, one by one. With the dance music blearing and the burner cranking, the guys aren’t worried about the cold at all and love every minute of it.

Today is the 17^th of March; St Patricks Day and the base is awash with green. Check out the picture of what dinner looked like!!

Last month I joined the winter over social committee, (a group tasked with keeping the sanity on base while the sun doesn’t shine) and this weekend coming we will be hosting a belated St Patty's day party, we will update you on how that goes down next week!