thaw box, scott base and lake fryxell

Posted On November 21, 2009

i spent afew days working on the new “thaw box” for the galley. this essentially a big refrigerator used to allow frozen foods to thaw while keeping them in a safe temperature range.

"grave mats" and chill mat hoses thawing the ground

i went over to the Kiwi’s (new zealand) Scott Base for a little while. its a whole lot smaller than McMurdo. there only about 50 people there compared to the 900-1000 at McMurdo. they have a nice little store with a bunch of souvenirs.

: observation hill from mcmurdo

: me in the helo going to lake fryxell

: possibly commonwealth glacier

: a sideways view of the DC to AC inverter for the solar and wind generators

: a shot of the lake ice

: some of the ice formations on the lake

: bubble frozen in the lake ice

: canada glacier

: observation hill

: scott hut near mcmurdo

: annual sea ice runway

: the road coming back from scott base

: scott base

: no matter where you go in the world you can’t escape the mini van

: a pressure ridge in the ice near scott base

: “grave mats” and chill mat hoses thawing the ground

i got to go out to the McMurdo Dry Valleys for a week. i am staying at the lake fryxell field camp. i’m helping install a new solar power system and remove the old one. this involved digging a 1′ diameter hole 4′ deep. the plan was to go to 6′ feet but the ground was so hard to dig that we stopped at 4′. the pole we used was 8″D x 13′ long and weighed 400 lbs. the batteries for the system weigh in at about 90 pounds each for a total weight of around 2200 lbs. there’s internet here but no running water. to get water someone takes the atv about a 2 miles up the frozen lake to the canada glacier chips off 100 lbs or so of ice brings it back and we melt it on the oil heater.