First days at Rothera

Flying in on the Dash 7 was not your average flight. With the freedom to wonder around, make your own hot drinks and chat to the pilots made a welcome relief from the crammed commercial flights we had previously been on. It was cloudy until our final decent where we dropped below the clouds and got stunning views of Adelaide Island and the extensive sea ice.

inside the dash

It was pretty surreal wondering around the base and trying to understand that I was finally in Antarctica. This was made harder by the fact that that it was uncharacteristically hot (4℃) and sunny, the air in Antarctica is also very dry (it’s the driest continent on earth) which means you can become dehydrated very quickly.

sea ice near Rothera

Being the run up to Christmas every night this week has been a movie night with a choice of two films to watch. When we arrived Elf was being shown in the Fuchs loft. Fuchs is the field guides’ building and in the loft is where all the sleeping gear is stored which had been arranged in rows and draped with sheepskins to make for a very cosy viewing and a relaxed end to my first day.

Gator buggies

The following day was packed with various bits of training including field medical box training, living and working around aircraft and a vehicle familiarisation. The vehicle familiarisation was good fun we got to take the gator buggies for a spin before going over to the ski ramp where we learnt how to use the skidoos which enabled us to take in the view of the base and surrounding mountains for the first time.

Skidoo at the top of the ramp

Thursday was the start of our field training in the morning we got to grips with the primus stoves and tilly lamps before getting kit together for our first overnight trip. After lunch we loaded up the snowcat and drove up the ramp and across to the caboose (small overnight hut) which is out of sight of the base. Our first job was to pitch the pyramid tent, despite being up in the mountains it was still really hot so we took a break in the caboose and had a drink before setting out to complete our training. We walked to a snow scoop which provided a steep slope to practice using our snow axes and crampons. It was really refreshing to be out walking around after being cooped up on the flights south, despite working hard I felt the most energised since being south.

Charlie, Hully and me in front of the snowcat

field practice 

We headed back to the Caboose at 1900 where we cooked a dinner of cheesy tuna pasta we managed to chat away until we realised it was 2300. Time is a strange concept at the moment with 24 hours of sunshine it is impossible to judge the time of day and you can easily stay up until the early hours without even noticing. The only thing that does mark the passage of time is the regularity of meals, during the day you are never more than 3 hours away from your next meal. The three usual meals are split by a morning and afternoon smoko (the term for a glorified tea break, in the morning soup is always on offer and in the afternoon there is sometimes biscuits if not toast and cereal are always available). After realising the time, we decided to turn in for the night. Due to the weather being so pleasant, we all opted to bivy out on the snow instead.

bivying out

pyramid tent and caboose

It was probably the best night sleep I had had since being at Rothera mainly because of the sleeping gear we were provided with. All of your sleeping equipment gets put in to your own “p bag” for the entirety of your time south. It contains a foam roll mat, an inflatable thermarest, a sheepskin, a fleece liner, a cotton liner, a very thick down sleeping bag and a waterproof bivy bag. Which was more than warm enough out on the snow. The only thing to get used to was the silence and it was truly silent the smallest rustle was deafening.

sleeping system

After breakfast we made our way back down to base where we sorted the gear out. Teresa and I had the afternoon free so we got Denzel, the vehicle mech to teach us how to drive the tractors which are used to move the boats around base. Which was great fun and a lot easier than driving a car. It’ll be hard to go back to the uk where you need a licence to drive! My training is all complete now and I will be starting work after boxing day.