Calm after the storm

As the storm cleared we began our last week of work at Cape Royds before heading back to Cape Evans and eventually Scott base. Since the weekends storm the weather has been tropical with forecasted temperatures going the as high as +4degrees Celsius before accounting for wind-chill. Whilst pleasant for me at the time being and good enough to have lunch outside, I can’t help but think global warming has a part to play in these bizarrely high temperatures.

(fine weather)

This week has been fantastic so far. We completed the digging of the deflection dam and gradient gutter around the hut meaning we can now put away the jackhammers and move onto other tasks. With four days good sunshine some ice has melted around the hut giving us the opportunity to see our gradient gutter successfully in action (so far!). As a part of my work schedule I have also been able to spend a couple of days with Randy (a Canadian carpenter) cutting and assembling metal edging on some contemporary wooden boxes to be stacked around the hut along with some of the historical Venesta boxes.

(contemporary boxes)

We decided to celebrate some milestones in our month long work program the team went sledging before dinner last night. This was following the lead of a penguin that visited camp and slid down a nearby slope on his stomach for fun more than any logical reason. The snow was in perfect condition, not too firm but good to get a decent amount of pace up for a thrill.

(sledging)

To balance the long hours and physical work put in by everyone on the AHT team there is always fun to be had. Whether it is going sledging or for walks to the boarder where the Ross Sea meets the ice there is constantly a fantastic sense of happiness and collective enjoyment of being in each other’s company in one of the most amazing places on earth.