Surviving and Thriving

SURVIVING AND THRIVING

    It's hard to imagine but we have been here at Mawson now for 7 weeks! Losing track of the time of day and the day of the week is quite common among us, especially now that the number of daylight hours is rapidly shortening. Currently sunrise is about 8:30am and sunset about 5:00pm. Come ANZAC Day our Dawn Service will begin at around 9:10AM! At least its more of a sleep in than those of you back home will get if you venture out for an ANZAC Day Dawn Service!

 

    Since we have arrived, one of the biggest things in our minds has been the much anticipated/dreaded Field Survival Training Trip. Each Expeditioner must venture forth with the Field Training Officer (FTO) to prove they can survive outside, overnight in the depths of an Antarctic night. Once this is achieved, you are allowed to head off station into the wilds for weekend leisure trips or "Jollies" as they are affectionately known.

    My trip arrived in due course two weeks ago and we ( the FTO, Station Doctor and Mechanical Supervisor with yours truely ) set off in our trusty, shiny green Hagglunds tracked vehicle. We were all to drive the "Hagg", navigate and hike around several peaks up on the ice plateau where the Framnes Mountains poke their heads out of the ice.. which by the way can be up to 600 metres deep. Therefore the mountains we see are actually only the tops of the mountain ranges and are known as Nunataks

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  Above: The Green Hagg.... noisy, somewhat lacking in creature comforts but about the only vehicle you can trust to take you a long way on the ice and get you home again. The heater does work very well thankfully.

Above Left: Inside the Hagg.. space is a little tight but four can fit with the necessities for travel... being snacks, earmuffs and a water bottle... not to be confused with your orange pee bottle ( below ) which you must use if you need to go... no making of the yellow snow or ice in Antarctica thanks very much! 

Above : Landmarks are few and far between on the plateau meaning a GPS is essential in order to 1) not get lost and 2) avoid falling down a bottomless crevasse.  Both of those activities are discouraged.

Below: Fang Hut near Fang Peak, part of the David Range south west of Mawson station. The Ice Plateau that is hundreds of meters thick can be seen in the distance. Fang Peak is a Nunatak along with all the mountains you can see around Mawson. Fang Hut is small, cold and not a place I recommend staying if you want to be 1) Warm 2) Cosy 3) Comfortable 4) Having a good nights sleep. 

After some navigation and driving lessons in a safe area where there were no Hagg and people eating crevasses, we drove to Fang Peak and its hut.. Fang Hut. Our FTO cheerily said " Grab your survival packs and lets go for a walk" We less than cheerily grabbed our packs holding a sleeping bag, sleeping mat, compass, plastic Bivvy bag or " Chip Packet" as they are more commonly known, and several other survival aiding type thingos and off we went. 

    Now our FTO does not appear to be someone who would outpace many people in a hike up a shaly, rocky hill in -15 C temperatures with a good 35 knot wind blowing, but many things in life are deceiving. And so we soon learnt that he is in fact a mountain goat cleverly disguised as a human and left us for dead! Whilst we were struggling with cold, slippery rocks, goggles and sunglasses fogging up with our breath and then the moisture from our breath freezing on said glasses and goggles, rendering us blind, he was flitting worry free from rock to rock with ballerina like grace and occasionally turning to make sure that we weren't in fact dead.

Below: Our FTO once more out in front after an evening stroll on a less shaly hill...                                                                                                                                                                                          

Strolling all done we crammed ourselves into Fang hut for the night. Outside it was -20C and inside the hut it was... -20 C. The poxy little gas heater seemed to make no difference for about three hours. Eventually we warmed slightly to a toasty -5C or something and felt much better.... only kidding. Fortunately our sleeping bags proved to be effective and we slept reasonably well considering.

Next morning we were rudely woken by the VHF radio asking us ( via the Mawson Station leaders voice ) if we were alive and what we were planning to do for the day. These radio calls are made at the start and end of the day and whenever we leave for a new location. We carry GPS trackers so if we do get into trouble the Station knows where to start looking for us. We headed for Rumdoodle Hut, carefully following the GPS tracking system in the Hagg. We are taught to stay not more than 5 metres either side of the marked route which you think would be easy enough would you not... but proved tricky when turning corners to a new route .. think my worst effort was about 15 metres away from said marked route on a corner... must have been due to a slow GPS update I'm sure. 

    Just behind Rumdoodle Hut near Rumdoodle Peak, part of the North Masson Range ( you may have cleverly noted the tricky pattern of Huts being named after the closest peak ) we went for another stroll on some frozen lakes nearby which proved to be a spectacular highlight. Not only was the pace more sedate and gentlemanly, but there was no wind and the sun shone magnificently!  Trapped inside the frozen lakes were all sorts of weird snowflakey things which we have no idea how they came to be trapped there. The reflections were basically perfect!

 

Below: Lake Lorna near Rumdoodle Hut

Having absolutely enjoyed our afternoon it was time to head to the hut and our looming survival sleepout. First was a meal cooked on a small Shellite burning stove.. the meal being what appeared to be a dehydrated one left over from the Boer War at the start of last century. Having said that, it didn't taste too bad but I wont be in a hurry to re-visit that restaurant. Then we sat in the hut and our FTO proceeded to describe the procedure for surviving if you are stuck / lost outside in Antarctica. 

    

Basically you get your plastic bag ( the yellow " Chip Packet" shown below ) off the side of your survival pack, throw your pack inside it ( there are no poles etc.. its just a long bag to keep the wind off you ) and then get inside. Then while sitting in your Chip Packet you have to get the sleeping mat, sleeping bag etc out , set it up and have a great nights sleep not being cold or kept awake by the noise of the chip packet rustling every time you wiggle the end of your nose or other small bodily appendage..simple!

    Forget the fact that it is now -25C outside with a bit of a breeze blowing and that the FTO has taken so long  ( deliberately no doubt ) to explain all this that it is now dark and you will have to do it all using your head torch! The FTO Mountain Goat/ Humanoid was no doubt chuckling to himself for hours after that delay, knowing all we wanted to do was get it over with... so off we went. 

    

    I chose a singularly uncomfortable spot next to the Hagg, with exquisitely pointy little rocks that were in no way arranged to be level. Still it was better than the other options of 1) A large frozen puddle about 2 metres in diameter or 2) Much larger rocks with just as many exquisite pointy bits at even larger angles. At the end of the day though ( well actually the night ), it was cold, we didn't really sleep but we also didn't die which I guess was the point of the exercise and a thing to celebrate no doubt.

Left: The dreaded Chip Packet Survival Tool

 

Rumdoodle Hut Accomodation Options:  

Red Arrow:             My standard room with smaller pointy unlevel rock base.. limited view.

Yellow Arrow:         Penthouse showcasing excellent views with large pointy rocks.

Green Arrow:           Luxury Suite with icy outlook but free ice on tap for your after dinner drinks.

    The next day we fluffed around with a little more Hagg driving and navigating but we were all ready to head back to Station for some good food, a hot shower ( even if it is only allowed to be two minutes long ) and a bed without any rocks at all in it... heaven on a stick!

    Above: Rumdoodle Hut Sunset.

    Since our Survival Training trip it has been business as usual here at Mawson. But business as usual generally involves being gobsmacked several times a day by the changing colours of the ice, sky and snow and the sheer beauty of the place we are in.

    The sea ice is now at a point where we will shortly begin to drill it to check its depth to see if we are able to safely begin to walk and then ultimately drive the Haggs on it to travel further up and down the coast for visits to scientific sites and also for Jollies to some of the huts further away. There always seems to be some new adventure just about to happen. Tomorrows adventure sounds like Blizzard conditions with winds gusting up to 70 knots ( approx 130 Km/h ) and snow as well!