Ringing out the old (New Years at the bottom of the world)

Antarctic Search For Meteorites 2008/2008 | 12/31/08 | Dave "Duck" Mittlefehldt

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Ringing out the old
31 Dec. 2008

This will be a short post. It's New Year's Eve.

Today started windy. When I woke up I could hear the wind flapping the tent sides and the hiss of snow blowing against the tent. I knew we would not start work early so I stayed in the sleeping bag. The wind died down just a little during the morning, so we decided to try foot-searching a moraine after lunch. Walking around, rather than searching from a ski-doo, would help keep us warm while we were outside. That is the theory. We kept at it for about an hour and a half, but then decided to return to camp in mid afternoon. This was not our most productive day; we found only one meteorite.

Being New Year's Eve, we had planned to have a communal supper, and the ladies agreed to host it in their tent. We started at 5:30 PM. Supper transitioned into wide ranging discussions on the ANSMET program, mountaineering, prospecting for precious metals in South Africa, cooking disasters, life on Mars, and other topics too numerous to mention. (Or remember.) Six people in a tent designed to house two gets awfully cramped. Finally, after four hours, the elderly among us (including yours truly) had to get out, if for no other reason than to make sure we could still straighten our legs.

That was our New Year's Eve. I do not know about the others, but I made the same New Year's Resolution I make every year; I resolved to make it through the upcoming year. So far, I haven't failed in this.

100 years ago this date: Shackleton's team is still man-hauling uphill, fighting through troublesome soft snow, and into icy katabatic winds. Nevertheless, they make 11 miles on the day. However, they have on ly three weeks of food left, but 500 miles to go to get to the Pole and back to their last food depot. They need to average 25 miles a day to make it.

Cheers,
LYAN
duck

[InABunkerUnderSF]

A dispatch from ASFMET - The Antarctic Search For Meteorites.

Ringing in the new year at a field camp in the Davis/Ward Nunataks (ice fields?), Antarctica. Looks like one wild party (by geologist standards.)

The posting above is from the 31 Dec. 2008 dispatch. If you follow the link you will land on today's 01 Jan. 2009 dispatch - more than we really want to know about life at an Antarctic field camp and a description of the kind of work a PHD in Geology really gets you.

Here they are partying down in the ladies tent.