5 December, 2003

Preparing For Our Traverse

Today we spent much of the day at the Berg Field Center (BFC) preparing for our upcoming traverse. Like for our trip to the Dry Valleys, we have to check out and test our field equipment, plan meals, make travel arrangements, and do food pulls. While some of the tasks are the same, many of the logistics are quite different. Instead of traveling by helicopter to our field site, we will be traveling by snowmobile, instead of four people, we’ll have seven, and instead of hanging out in a James way we’ll be cooking, eating and gathering in a tent. We also had a meeting with Matt Szundy, the mountaineer accompanying us on our traverse. During this meeting Matt was able to learn a little more about the nature of our project and we were able to ask questions and share our concerns. He will also go with us next week on our “shake down” trip to Big Razorback Island (so we can feel comfortable driving the snowmobiles) and will conduct our Snow Craft II course, which involves crevasse training and self-arrest.

1. Scott “map boy” Craig working on the computer to get us the best maps and geographical information about our upcoming sampling area. What kind of information/types of maps would you want before making a trip such as ours?

2. Here I am in the Berg Field Center (BFC). This is the warehouse where we pick up and test our field equipment such as tents, sleeping kits, and stoves. The yellow things are Scott tents ready to be issued. The name of the tent is not named after our Scott. For whom might this tent be named?

3. Setting up the Endurance tent in the BFC. Why it is important to test our equipment before taking it into the field?

4. Here I am peeking out the opening of one of the Scott tents that we’ll take on our traverse. The opening is a little difficult to get in and out of, so Scott is giving me a hand.

5. Inside the cage. All of the PIs (principal investigators) are assigned a slot in one of the cages of the cargo room. This cage acts as our garage, holding all of our gear before we take it out to the field. Here you see some of our sleeping bags and other miscellaneous equipment. B-019 is our NSF assigned event number. Our event number starts with a “B” because we are in the biological sciences. My friends studying Mt. Erebus have an event number that starts with “G”. What branch of science might this indicate?

6. Barb Schulz checking one of the smaller stoves we’ll take into the field.

7. The upstairs of the BFC has a painted Macopoly floor. The monopoly squares have been changed to places around McMurdo.