November 10, 2009
This was a day off. Most people were up at 1:20pm, after having gone to bed around 3am after downloading all the data and cleaning up from the late mission of November 9. Most people wrote blog entries and sorted photos. Kristof and John Priscu collected "glacier berries" - small chunks of ice that had broken off Taylor glacier - and hauled them back to camp in a sled behind their ATV. This has been our main water source.
John Priscu collects fallen blocks of ice for our drinking water from Taylor glacier.
Today was also a whirlwind of helo activity here with carpenters coming in from McMurdo to work on basecamp improvements and PIs ("Put Ins") of empty wastewater barrels and removal of full ones. Items to be "retro'd" (returned to McMurdo) had to be loaded into cargo nets for sling loading beneath a helicopter. A typical load is seven 55 gallon drums or a similar number of loaded propane tanks. A total of four flights landed here today.
Kristof brings and empty wastewater barrel to the Jamesway hut. Everything from dish and washwater to urine goes into these barrels.
Emma Steger prepares a 7 barrel sling load of wastewater to "retro" to McMurdo.
