Antarctic Training

Antarctic Training - Part 1

16 September 2013    Cambridge, UK

Before I can head down to Antarctica, I have to learn a bit about the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and some first aid skills. They held the training at Girton College, which was beautiful and historic itself. This trip was only the first part of the training - I get another 2-3 days of "on-site" training in Antarctica after we reach the base. Looking forward to learning some crevasse rescue techniques and other fun winter camping skills!

They don't make doors like
they used to...

The training was long hours of interesting powerpoint presentations about all aspects of life down South punctuated by numerous breaks for tea. I don't know how many cups of tea any one person here drinks, but there is tea with breakfast, tea at the midmorning break, tea after lunch, tea at the mid-afternoon break, and tea after dinner! But I digress...

The training for the first couple of days covered ship life, base life, field life, research (see cool sea spider picture: they brought him in from their Antarctic aquarium), teamwork, and other aspects that I don't think we'll cover here today.

Sea spider: I apologize for the lack of scale, but he's bigger than my hand. 

The second part of the week was all first aid training. We reviewed many things that I've had in classes before, but some new things: backboard stabilization for picking up by a helicopter or towing behind a skidoo. We also learned how to give injections. When we first walked in the room, they passed out the syringes, saline solution, and told us to roll up our sleeves so we could practice. We all sighed (a couple of people blanched)...and then they pulled out the oranges. Whew!



We also got to try on all our kit (gear) and make sure that everything fits. The gigantic duffel bag contains most of the special gear I'll need for the trip. Lots of fun things: Thermals, two kinds of boots, socks, fleece top and pants, warm jacket, a couple kinds of gloves, a couple of hats, sunglasses, and a bright orange worksuit. It was like Christmas, but with easy returns on the clothes if they didn't fit.



Despite the busy training schedule, I did get to see a bit of the city of Cambridge. It's known for all the beautiful schools and the canal that runs through town. I walked around several of the colleges, but I've always been a fan of buttresses on beautiful buildings, so I think that the chapel at King's College was my favorite. So much history!

The chapel was built over a 100-year period and under the direction/funding of 4 different kings. The history is all over inside the chapel, with the war of the roses featuring prominently in everything (you can see more details of the chapel history on their website). The family symbols (see photo below) were worked into the decorations in the chapel, including on the ceiling. I do find it interesting that I learned about much of this history (or at least vague ideas) from watching tv shows like "The White Queen" (BBC) or "The Tudors" (HBO). The details may be fiction, but the general succession and major events are correct, so it works :)

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

Another view of the chapel (left side of the picture).
The other buildings are parts of King's College and a couple of things further out in the city. 

Ornate ceiling (the largest example of its kind) and organ.

Symbols found all over the church, representing all the major players.  

The symbols decorating the church - it's cool to know what everything means.

I had a chance to stop in at the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum - fun museum, especially in light of what I'm preparing for! The type of clothes/food/equipment that they had back then makes me quite thankful for the kit that we will be using this time. They had lots of fun artifacts from previous expeditions, including some interesting snowshoes - a point to anyone who can guess what animal they were for!

Interesting snowshoes at the museum - but who were they designed for?

The other main feature I saw in Cambridge was the canal that runs through it. You can hire boats and go punting on a nice afternoon - it was too cold on this visit, but I guess it's good to have a list for the next time I visit!

There's a canal where you can go punting - but too cold for this trip!

On the way back to the train station, I was struck by the incredible number of bikes in the parking area. I think they outnumbered cars in the parking lots by about 10:1. If only everywhere looked like this...

More bikes than cars in the train station parking lots.