10 November, 1997

Hi Everyone,

I get to go to Snow Survival School today.   Last  night I attended a 
neat lecture on the Cape Roberts project where they were drilling into a 
rock layer under the ocean and a layer of ice.   The ice broke up early 
so they had to quit or go into the ocean.

The have found some real neat things in that project.  They know that 
there are small animals that lived along time ago.  The scientists also 
know that they have some small animal fossils preserved in the rock layer 
that do not exist now nor have they seen before.  This is a neat 
Continent since it is not like anything at home and now it even has 
animals that existed in the ocean around it that have not been discovered 
before.   Antarcitica at one time was very warm much like Australia and 
New Zealand are now.   It even has dinasaur fossils and old plant areas 
that may contain coal and maybe gas.

Snow camp consisted of some real neat things for us to do and learn.   We 
left McMurdo and traveled in a tracked vehicle called a Sprite that moves 
on things that look like belts of rubber and steel and tires run inside 
this.   Everyone got a chance to drive the Sprite as we moved out on the 
Ross Ice Shield.    Once there, they taught us about setting up large 
pointed tents called the Scott tent and a smaller two man version of a 
regular mountain
tent.   We learned how to start a small stove that has only one burner 
and uses a gas to burn.   It is kind of like a camp stove only much 
smaller and it takes alot longer to cook on.  

The most fun came when we had to build a snow wall so that our tent would 
be out of the wind.   We used saws and ice axes to cut out the blocks of 
snow and then stack them on top of each other so that they look like a 
brick wall.  The blocks were to be about the same size and then stacked 
so that the seams were not right on top of each other.  This wall blocked 
the wind that howled over the open ice plane.    

The last part of the day came when we dug out blocks of snow again only 
to form a trench (a depression in the ground) large enough for a person 
to sleep in.   The blocks of snow were paced over the trench in a V shape 
so that the person in the trench could be protected from the snow and the 
wind.   It was really neat to work with the ice/snow here since it is 
more like the stuff our toys are packed in than the snow that we have at 
home.   I could not even make a snowman/woman here!!!!!
As night came and we went to bed, either in a tent or trench, (our 
instructor went inside his hut) the wind could be heard howling around 
us.  Sometimes it made such a racket that it sounded like a large plane 
was going to land on top of you.  The tent stayed warm as long as you 
stayed cuddled up in your sleeping bag and liner.   It was really great 
fun.

Things that you may find fun to do would be to make a tent out of paper 
or (if your mom doesn't mind) out of blankets and stuff at home and try 
to spend a night wrapped in side and pretend that you are on a large 
floating glacier, called Ross Ice Shield, over a large deep ocean many 
hundreds of feet below.