Back to work

It is important to hold very tightly onto the hand line that links the two buildings, and remain standing upright while the gusts of wind try to knock you from your purchase.

Another adventure was filling the melt tank for the Piggott building.  The stainless steel snow containers have to be hauled down the steps from the platform to a clean area of snow, filled and then hauled back up again.  In a blow with poor visibility it is great fun but very hard work - a real Antarctic survival procedure.

Many are starting to think about the end of the season and going home.  Simon Gill (Morrison Project Manager) has been seen jumping around in the snow like Tigger for the past few days. I think he is looking forward to going home, although he hasn't mentioned it, but he talks a lot about going to Cape Town!

The weather is clearing up now. The high winds are going and there is awash of wind driven snow that is flowing across the surface of theground. Its like standing in a shallow stream, where the frozen but fluid surface of the ground rushes past as if in a hurry to get somewhere. This gives rise to the opportunity to take some stunning pictures, everyone with a camera is happily snapping away.  Even seasoned Antarctic visitors are at it.  It's not surprising as the scenery is constantly changing and every second there is a never-to-be-repeated photogenic shot of something on the landscape.

Meanwhileback on site, we had a lot of work to do. Austin's crane was completely snowed in and had to be dugout.  There was also  a lot of snow management to be done around the modules to level the site again. 

There was also some spring cleaning to be done in the partially clad B2 module.  Surprisingly there was less snow in and around the module than we anticipated, so after a bit of a sweep and a brush it was back to proper work again.  The cladding seems to have performed very well against the wind and snow.

Back at the annexes, I think Martin Bell and his team were the most excited of all at the opportunity of clearing snow with their Caterpillar D7 Bulldozers. On Friday morning, they seem to have been a bit too enthusiastic and also managed to remove two pairs of skis and our pit room doorway. Luckily I am sharing with Pete Willmott (Site Manager) who put his crack team of joiners on the case to mend the damaged front, but for a while I thought I'd be sleeping in the gym again.

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