7 November, 2000

FYI answer for 11/06

Because McMurdo is on the other side of the International Dateline, I am a day of the week ahead of you, but five clock hours behind you.

McMurdo Station, Antarctica time is

20 hours ahead of EST

19 hours ahead of CST

18 hours ahead of MST

17 hours ahead of PST

When you cannot train outside because of the weather (today was still a Condition 2), then bring the training inside. Today I joined my friends from Project S-157, who will be heading to a remote location called Ice Stream C, in crevasse training. Since their location is on a glacier, they are more at risk of falling into crevasses, which are cracks or fissures, sometimes large and deep, in a glacier or the earth.

Anytime the members of S-157 are walking from their camp to a drilling location, they will dress in harnesses and ropes, and they will be tethered together approximately 10 feet apart. This is the way to be prepared. If you have a plan of action, then accidents have a better chance of ending well.

We used the McMurdo gym for our training. I learned how to tie figure-eight, clover, and prussik knots. I learned the correct way to fall to the ground in a 'dead man lay' when the member in front or behind me falls through a crevasse. From that point, they taught me how to make a Z-pulley system so I could pull an unconsious person up, no matter how heavy he/she might be. There is also a climbing wall in the gym so I learned how I can help myself by a climbing system, if I were the one to fall in the crevasse, and remain consious.

FYI

Glaciers are ______ masses that are attached to land. When a glacier breaks away from the _______ and falls into the sea, it is called calving, and the glacier is now an ___________.

Good thing this is practice, indoors too

A prussik knot

Getting the straps on correctly

Remember: If this were real, I would have on +30 pounds of clothing, thick mittens or gloves and the crevasse may be very deep

Do you think I'm ready for a real crevasse rescue now?