Waiting at WAIS

Our time at WAIS camp is slowly coming to a close. The storm tapered off Monday morning and it left drifts about 3 feet high around the camp. The camp staff did a great job in recovering from the storm and by the end of the day all of the drifts were broken up and the snow was groomed throughout the camp. Unfortunately for us, the weather was still poor on Monday at all of our AWS locations that need to be serviced. The end result was another quiet day at WAIS. Dave and I did give the inaugural WAIS science lecture for this season and it was a modified presentation from that which we gave a month ago in McMurdo. The presentation went well, which is a good thing as the cold I have been fighting for the last week or two has descended into my lungs and it was a struggle to not cough at times. Once again today, the weather was not good at all of the AWS sites and there was no flying. We are scheduled for a herc flight back to McMurdo tomorrow (Wednesday) late evening. In the meantime, another storm, although less intense as the past, is forecast to pass through our area late this afternoon through tomorrow afternoon. Feel free to go ahead and start making side bets on how long it will take us to get out of WAIS and back to McMurdo.

Digging out from the storm over the weekend. There were approximately 3 foot drifts between most of the tents.

Grooming equipment is used throughout the camp to make the snow surface smooth between the tents and along the cargo lines. The grooming is especially critical after storms producing drifting throughout the camp. A bulldozer needs to go through the camp after more significant storms to break up the drifts..

I am currently almost completely removed from Christmas festivities and excitement. That is somewhat odd considering I am fully surrounded by and living amongst snow. I was able to see friends posting pictures of their Christmas trees on Facebook before leaving McMurdo a week ago. Without any internet at WAIS, I am disconnected from that reminder that it is the Christmas season. The lab staff at McMurdo were planning to put up Christmas decorations around the lab the day that we left. We do not have any holiday decorations set up at WAIS. I am guessing that it will be an intense immersion into Christmas festivities as I travel north through Christchurch and then back to Colorado. I have not decided yet if I will put up my Christmas tree this year. It would only be up for about nine days before I leave for Christmas in Minnesota.