9 October, 1998

Today was "ice school" and "helicopter" school day! We watched a video describing how to be safe around helicopters, how to enter and exit, attach seat belts, etc... Ice school reviewed some of the concepts from snow craft or "happy campers" school but also taught us how to recognize various types of cracks in the ice and where the cracks are likely to be. We then went out on the sea ice in a large tracked vehicle called a Hagglund to drill ice holes and measure the thickness at the fish hut locations. As we travelled north from McMurdo, we saw many cracks between two islands called Tent Island and Inaccessible Island. One ot the cracks was recently formed and active- it was very interesting and I feel more secure now that I know what to look for. While we were out we also explored around a glacier and I climbed into a very small cave- there were large and very beautiful ice crystals. We also stopped to take pictures near an iceberg that got stuck up against another island called Big Razorback Island- the ice inside the caves, and making up the glaciers and iceberg is the most incredible blue color- it was great to see.