Back on Base (Rothera)

28 January 2014
We didn't end up getting out on Jan 26 after all. We spent all morning packing up as much of camp as possible without packing up our personal things that we use each night and then the weather turned and the first plane didn't end up coming at all. We had just over 10,000 pounds of gear and people, which works out to 5 Twin Otter plane loads that needed to come out of the field. The logistics for all of this are amazingly complex, but well managed.

Black and white photo of some of the clouds forming over Marble Hills

When we woke up on Jan 27, we were told that the first plane would be there in a little under 2 hours - birthday present for me! It's very cool to see the plane land on skis on the snow runway. These pilots are some of the best in the world and it is so amazing to see them practice their trade. We also get to be copilots for some of the legs of the trip, which means we get to sit up front and help the pilot. How many people get to fly an airplane in Antarctica?

Leaving the field was more emotional than I expected and I was sad to leave, but there are some advantages to being back in civilization so I tried to focus on the positive things (like water that comes out of a faucet instead of having to melt it myself!). All the scientists (sometimes affectionately referred to as 'Beakers' by the other people on base) were uplifted in the first plane and we flew back to Sky-Blu (~3 hours). We helped unload the plane and then were given a wonderful lunch of bacon sandwiches and tea. Another two planes came in with more gear later, but other than that we had a bit of free time to chat with the people who were working at Sky-Blu or enjoy the warm, sunny day. I took the opportunity to take some fun photos with my new camera in weather so warm (comparatively speaking) that I was almost too hot in my field clothes! It was still -8 degrees Celsius, but with sun and no wind it felt very warm.

We spent the night at Sky-Blu in a tent (they are used to visiting guests and have room for 8 people extra to spend the night). We got up in the morning and got on a Twin Otter headed back to Rothera via Fossil Bluff around midday. We got back on base early enough to have a quick shower before tea (the big meal at the end of the day, also referred to as dinner or supper in the States). We were told that we wouldn't be allowed in the dining room until after the shower, so it's a good thing we arrived at a reasonable hour!

View out one of the windows on the Twin Otter as we headed home from Fossil Bluff - very lucky to fly on a mostly sunny day!

The shower was amazing and eating non-dehydrated food was good, but the field season was relatively short compared to others and we hadn't started having cravings yet. It's nice to have a bit of luxury - going into the bedroom using a door instead of a small tent hole, heated towel racks, flush toilet instead of a toilet tent, clean clothes, not re-hydrated vegetables, electricity at all hours of the day, and warm water that comes out of the tap. However, I also miss the field. Everyday life sometimes feels more difficult in the field because I had to think about so many new things every day - just staying warm was hard, let alone drinking and eating enough, not being sunburned, wearing the right clothing, and trying to stay focused and organized enough to also get the science completed.  But life in the field is also simpler in some ways: get up, stay alive, do science, prepare for tomorrow, sleep. Life in the real world takes a back seat to these everyday tasks. Other things seem distant, both physically and figuratively, and you are able to achieve complete focus on the immediate scientific tasks on hand.

It will take some time to get acclimatized to being back on base, but I hope to keep some of the focus that I found in the field and use it to keep working on my projects as I slowly return to 'real life'. A part of me will miss being in the field, but I'm looking forward to other aspects of the project and seeing where the journey takes us.