It's Beaker Season

The smell of beakers is in the air. Beakers is the affectionate term for the scientists who are arriving for their various projects now. They are coming in on more and more frequent flights from various universities and institutions. They use McMurdo as a sort of base camp before deploying to their individual field camps. There is the LDB (Long Duration Balloon) project, ice core sampling, microbial testing and work on sea level rise. With everything in between. As the station fills up there are more people to meet, more people in the kitchen, more people at the gym. I'm enjoying the variety of folks coming through my clinic as some of them have issues they need addressed before being at a field site for 3 months. We got to watch Warren Miller (they premeiered it down here this year). It was fun to see Crystal Mountain highlighted. They also brought the Banff Film Festival down which was great. Both events are always on my list of things to do in Seattle so I feel like I didn't miss out. Well, I'll miss out on the actual dumpage that Crystal just got but I can deal for a season.

This week I did the tryout for the Search and Rescue (SAR) team. They have a large fake crevasse (SAR-chasm) that we practiced crevasse rescue out of. I really wanted to make the team but can't since I am not wintering next year (Feb 2010-Oct 2010). There is too much training involved to have summer folks on the team just to have them leave in February. I didn't know that when I filled out the application so point for me on that one. I kind of got a much-needed free day. It was fun to practice the skills and be outside. It was basically like all the alpine classes I've taken before but in Antarctica. All the skills practice but with a face mask and three layers of clothing.

The instructors were great. They consisted of our American crew and one New Zealand instructor (orange coat in the middle). I learned new ways of tying the same old knots so I at least took something new from the day. We covered all the basics and it was a huge morale boost to be outside.

Here I am during our working lunch break. It's sometimes hard to grasp the landscape with a camera. White on white with a digital doesn't show the contrast quite like the naked eye.

This pic is taken near Tent and Inaccessible Islands. Still on sea ice that will become open water soon. The names refer to explorers making it to the first island but being stopped short of the second one...even though they are very close together.

My mom and dad, Don and Phyllis, made a visit to Seattle last week. Here's a pic with my nephew, Dylan. Just thought I'd show them off since they haven't made my blog yet.

It has been warm enough to run outside some. But the ski goggles are still key. You can see some of the snow melted last week (when this pic was taken). Well, the last storm covered the ground again. The wind made it's entrance yesterday so it should be a fun run on the ice. I'm supposed to go to the South Pole this week to treat some folks up there. I hope this weather clears so it can happen. Big money, no whammies! In other words, please let me go to the Pole.