Breaking The Ice

It felt like Christmas receiving a kit bag full of equipment suited for polar conditions and rather amusing prancing around in a bright orange hard hat. As British Antarctic Survey (BAS) employees, we are supplied with gear for all seasons and activities ranging from technical mountain clothing, to highly insulated visibility jackets, to boiler suits for greasy work, to steel toe cap shoes. The best gift was the sturdy snow boats with removable thermal insides- to dry separately when wet. I looked at all this unfamiliar kit and projected myself to the end of my time at Rothera Research Station, when I would have to pack away all this gear and return it to the clothing store. I envisaged all the stories that would be attached to each item. I heard that the water bottles can easily be confused with the pee bottles and therefore correct labelling is paramount! Wintering staff members are each provided with a sizeable black crate to fill with personal possessions that will provide entertainment during 60 dark days of winter when the sun will not rise. Amongst these festivities, it was particularly enjoyable trying on different outfits and performing a series of catwalks in front of friends (Scarlett and Lucy) and the List family. 

Now it has started to feel real that I'm going to live on the most isolated continent in the world and experience every season with all its beauties and harsh secrets from December 2020, when the ship will dock, until March 2022. 

 

As a continuation of our training, a series of talks were delivered in Cambridge (BAS HQ) covering all essential aspects pre-deployment. I first met members of the wintering team whilst delivering our personal possessions boxes to BAS headquarters. It was hilarious to exchange with my soon-to-be colleagues about the sorts of projects we had planned, the languages and instruments we wanted to learn and most importantly, divulge the contents of the box (this ranged from fancy dress costumes to floral shower curtains to a saxophone). Connor had already recruited me into the wintering band before I had had a chance to deposit my possessions! Joe had a practically empty box and was short on ideas about what to pack so we subsequently had great fun that evening making a list of everything he could fill his box with, ranging from a cosy spa to a tattoo gun- these non-serious suggestions will probably never materialise. We were accommodated in Cambridge University halls of residence, as we dragged our remaining kit bags through brick, arched corridors, it felt as though we had become royalty, but at the same time, it was extremely strange. Adhering to social distancing and sitting meters apart from my new colleagues at meal times on long, polished wooden benches surrounded by high ceilings and old art set the stage.

This theme continued as all staff filtered into BAS headquarters the next morning and we took to our seats, dotted around the conference room, extensively spaced out. We received talks from the Home Office, the Environment Office, Antarctic clothing and of course Health and Safety (where we were given a very interesting analogy about how a series of mishaps and mistakes, also thought of as lemons, can eventually amount to serious accidents). Practical sessions ensued in the car park where we embarked upon fire extinguisher training and learnt about how to respond to oil spills, exploring and building different types of equipment.

Never did I think the day would come when I would operate a Lorry Loader. This training is essential for safely moving equipment around in Antarctica - such as deploying the diving boat and lifting it out of the icy water and back into a storage unit. I'm not exactly mechanically minded, and I've never been into video games, so this was new territory. My team (that's four of us, a boating officer, a diving officer, a marine assistant and me, the marine biologist) met at a training centre in Coventry for what was to be a thoroughly interesting course with an enjoyable practical session that really brought mechanics to life! I've attached a graphic of a Lorry Loader schematic below- essentially this takes the form of a truck with a crane, composed of different arms and fixed to a trailer. The crane is operated using a range of commands on a remote control box that is strapped to the users waist. We were tasked with stabilising the truck, extending and 'slewing' (rotating) the 'booms' (arms) and transporting a load across an assault course. We were marked on our graceful touch...

Whatever next......

Thanks to Connor for remembering to taking photos during our training, photo credits to him.