The weather was spitting snow off and on today and at one point a Condition 2 was called on most of the roads out of town and on the airstrips, meaning that today's C-17 flight was cancelled and that they'll try again in 24 hours. The passengers (PAX in McMurdo speak) are lucky to get an extra day in Christchurch and the chance to explore around. Hopefully they'll take advantage of it.
Had an interesting conversation at dinner with Ed, the commander of the Air Force contingent stationed here. It's a joint Air Force and Air National Guard operation and he'll be here for 6 weeks. He's based out of Hickham Field in Hawaii and we had a good talk about the Kilauea Military Camp, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Arizona, where he'd been F-16 trained at Luke AFB. He and his wife got engaged in Sedona and had then hiked the South Kaibab. That led into Fort Tuthill and the OAP and to Brian Derker and "Into the Wild." What a small world.
You might be curious about what we wear here to stay warm. If you don't do it right, you will be cold and it could be dangerous or fatal. On the bottom I wear fleece pants as a base layer, with insulated Carhartt bib overalls over them, and a pair of heavy work boots with super thick socks. We have hand and feet warmers available but I haven't availed myself of them. When I go out to any of the ice roads or air strips I haul along my big bunny boots; they have inflatable air chambers around them and thick soles. It'd be difficult to get cold feet in them, but they are unwieldy for operating a vehicle. On top I wear a fleece top and fleece vest, covered by Big Red (described earlier). If you combine that with a fleece neck gaiter, it's tough for the wind to penetrate the jacket. On top I have a double thickness Peruvian hat with ear flaps and a pair of goggles to protect the eyes from glare (snowblindness is a real danger) and to make small imperfections in the road more easily seen. I brought my big, furry Russian hat but haven't had a good chance to wear it yet Gloves are a must, but when filling gasoline vehicles you have to be careful not to spill any gas on the gloves. Something about the gas in the cold weather can lead to almost immediate frost bite.
I made the mistake yesterday of going up to the office on my day off in a pair of jeans without the Carhartt bibs and the cold penetrated my legs almost immediately--painful. Luckily, it was just a short walk; otherwise it could have been dangerous.
During the normal workday we're coming into the office and back outside continually and so we're going from overheated and sweating inside to comfortable (sometimes cold if we're out for an hour or more) outside. So there are pretty wide swings in comfort in a short amount of time.
Had an interesting conversation at dinner with Ed, the commander of the Air Force contingent stationed here. It's a joint Air Force and Air National Guard operation and he'll be here for 6 weeks. He's based out of Hickham Field in Hawaii and we had a good talk about the Kilauea Military Camp, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Arizona, where he'd been F-16 trained at Luke AFB. He and his wife got engaged in Sedona and had then hiked the South Kaibab. That led into Fort Tuthill and the OAP and to Brian Derker and "Into the Wild." What a small world.
You might be curious about what we wear here to stay warm. If you don't do it right, you will be cold and it could be dangerous or fatal. On the bottom I wear fleece pants as a base layer, with insulated Carhartt bib overalls over them, and a pair of heavy work boots with super thick socks. We have hand and feet warmers available but I haven't availed myself of them. When I go out to any of the ice roads or air strips I haul along my big bunny boots; they have inflatable air chambers around them and thick soles. It'd be difficult to get cold feet in them, but they are unwieldy for operating a vehicle. On top I wear a fleece top and fleece vest, covered by Big Red (described earlier). If you combine that with a fleece neck gaiter, it's tough for the wind to penetrate the jacket. On top I have a double thickness Peruvian hat with ear flaps and a pair of goggles to protect the eyes from glare (snowblindness is a real danger) and to make small imperfections in the road more easily seen. I brought my big, furry Russian hat but haven't had a good chance to wear it yet Gloves are a must, but when filling gasoline vehicles you have to be careful not to spill any gas on the gloves. Something about the gas in the cold weather can lead to almost immediate frost bite.
I made the mistake yesterday of going up to the office on my day off in a pair of jeans without the Carhartt bibs and the cold penetrated my legs almost immediately--painful. Luckily, it was just a short walk; otherwise it could have been dangerous.
During the normal workday we're coming into the office and back outside continually and so we're going from overheated and sweating inside to comfortable (sometimes cold if we're out for an hour or more) outside. So there are pretty wide swings in comfort in a short amount of time.
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finally a chance to really put that russian hat to work! excellent! you must get us a picture of that.
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