Field Safety

Before you can leave for the field, the US Antarctic Program (USAP) makes sure you are ready and competent in the science of safety. In order to get ready, G-496 sat through a half-day class on safety, taught by one of the resident guides Suz. She is a great teacher who has been down here for years. She covers things like how to stay warm, preventing frostbite and hypothermia, basic knot skills, and how to set up and use a camping stove. She also talks a little about helicopter safety. 

Then the next day, as a group we went out in a haglund (see below) with Suz and our mountaineer Dave Buchanan for a full intense day of practical field safety. Photo by Ignacio Escapa

First we learned glacier travel which includes how to walk on ice and snow and how to use crampons and ice axes . Photo by Ignacio Escapa 

Then we learned how to set up the tents we would be using in the field, as a team. This included anchoring the tent into the snow using a “dead man’s” anchor. After we got the tents set up, everyone who had been to Antarctica recently left for the warm of McMurdo and four of us (Charlies, Ignacio, Carla, and myself) stayed behind. 

Next we learned how to build an ice-wall to protect the camp from incoming wind. Photo by Ignacio Escapa

We set up the kitchen, and made dinner. Suz left us to stay in the warmth of the instructors hunt while we fell asleep out on the Ross shelf in our tents.  

The next morning we woke up to wind, which made everything more difficult. We had to, as a group, take down camp, pack everything away and be ready for Suz to pick us up. However, because of the wind and it getting colder that night, the haglund wouldn’t start. So we had to carry out everything on a sled to the road, were we could be picked up by a shuttle and return to the warmth of buildings, McMurdo and the rest of our group.  -Lauren Michel