So the main things going over the past couple of weeks has been the Search and Rescue (SAR) training week where a group of us were given extra training on how to get people out of trouble if they happen to go off track and end up in a rather poor position when out in the field or how to go about finding someone who has gone missing around station (maybe lost or hurt or simply don't want to be found). With the events from the previous post occuring the same week as the training, it really hit home just how remote we are and that if anything does go wrong in the deep field, the operation becomes more of a retrieval than a rescue.
There has been much music over the weeks as well. We had a great band and played a number of cover songs ranging from Creedence Clearwater Revival to Paul Kelly, The Beatles, Gerswhin, Simon and Garfunkel and a bit of 3 Doors Down too. The band was made up of 3 singers: Vicki, Marie and Beck; pianist and occasional singer Bec; Andy the drummer; on guitar was Zbynek (who has an incredible ability to play along with any song by ear) and mad Matt, who also sings; and me on clarinet, bass guitar and sometimes harmonica (plus singing out of tune when I felt like joining in). Sadly, a number of our members have already left, however we'll have Andy, Matt and me for the winter and a few others wanting to learn and play along.
I went for an over night ski with some of the summerers, hmm, about a week and a half ago, to the nearest hut to station, the Wilkes Hilton. This hut is located at the site of the old station in the area that was abandoned in the 1960's. The ski over was a helluva lot of fun, although it was only the fourth time I'd ever been cross country skiing... The first three were around the ski loop at station. We had pizza in the wood fired oven and went for an evening walk around the old buildings all to the backdrop of a rather beautiful sunset.
Last weekend there was a group of the winterers who were taken out for the final bit of field training before the last of the summerers leave us. We went to the hut furthest from station at Browning Peninsula. The drive over there was fairly good going until we were heading down hill and having to cross multiple melt streams. We were constanly stopping to find the best places to cross and learning to trust all that the Hagglunds could do. They're a wonderfully chunky piece of machinery these Haggs, they can go pretty much anywhere and are supposedly able to float too, but we haven't tested that particular theory. We went for an evening walk after setting up camp and were greeted by a spectacular up close and personal view of the Vanderford glacier. An awe inspiring sight. We then played with a few elephant seals - well, we wandered around and took photos while they lay there in their wallow. The walk the next day didn't go down too well with some of the others, they didn't seem to think that walking in high winds with a pack on the back is something that is all that enjoyable.
*This post added as bit of a fill
That's pretty much everything for the past few weeks, enjoy the photos and I'll be back on here sometime in the near or distant future.
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