Cryostats and Jorts

Wow, a lot has happened since I last wrote a blog post 18 long days ago. I'll fill you in with a few highlights.

Mostly, I have been working. A lot. Hence the lack of blogging. Early in December the receiver team arrived, full of energy and ready to go. The cryostat (the "container" that gets very cold and holds our detectors) that we shipped from the states was supposed to arrive on December 6, however due to a severe backup in shipping, it didn't arrive here until December 17. None-the-less, we were able to hook up the new detector readout hardware and software to the old receiver and cryostat, and work on that for a week and a half. This was certainly a useful time for me to work out bugs in the system.

[Programming the second crate and power supply]

The cryostat arrived last Saturday evening, and we have been working like mad to put it together. Just yesterday evening we finished closing up the cryostat, and we turned on the pulse-tube coolers today. It should take about 5 days for it to cool to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero, then we can start taking measurements!

[Our focal plane. Ain't it pretty?]

[Working like crazy to assemble the cryostat]

On December 14, 1911 Roald Amundsen's party from Norway was the first group of people ever to arrive at the South Pole. In celebration of this centennial, the Norwegian prime minister traveled to the South Pole and was hosted here at the station. On the centennial, the prime minister gave a speech at the pole, which was broadcast live to Norway. I found it relieving and amazing that in his speech he stated point-blank that we as a globe needed to do something about global warming. A few days before the speech he came by the SPT and I got to shake his hand!

[Jens Stoltenberg, the Prime Minister of Norway, speaking to commerate the 100th year anniversary of the first people to arrive at the South Pole]

[A ice-cast sculpture of Amundsen]

In conjunction with the celebrations, a number of other people skied in from the coast. A commercial company set up a camp just off station where arriving skiers could stay. At the maximum, there were 93 visitors. One evening we decided to go out to the camp and check it out - apparently some of us had been invited earlier in the evening (I missed that party, was working at the telescope until 11pm). We walked over to their camp, but the hosts had either fallen asleep or passed out so we didn't get a tour, but it was still interesting to see. Tent city, sprawling out for a good 50 tents. We also saw two skiers actually arrive from their 6-week ski into the pole.

[Scientists heading over to the visitor's camping area.]

[The visitor's tent city]

[Skiers who had just arrived from a 6-week traverse in from the coast.]

A few weeks ago, we threw a Jorts party. "Jorts?" you say. Indeed, take jeans, slice them down with a knife into shorts, and voila! Jorts! It was a classic south-pole dance party, with lots of people (yours truly included) dancing like crazy people, blowing off steam. I found a super classy black-glitter top that showed off my midriff, which made me a hit at the party.

[Which way to the Jorts party?]

Over the past few weeks I've been hanging out with the guys who came in on the South Pole Traverse. The "traverse" is composed of a group of 10 snow tractors which drive from McMurdo to Pole over the course of thirty days. Imagine, 10 guys driving 10 to 12 hours per day through isolation. Anyway, it turns out that this guy Paul was the NOLS instructor for my friend Jamie down in Patagonia five years ago. Paul now works for YOSAR in Yosemite in the summer and works in Antarctica in the winter. He was a fun guy to talk to.

[My friend Paul at the climbing gym, fresh off the Antarctic Traverse]

One evening program that was particularly impressive. It was on the two men, Thomas Ulrich and Børge Ousland, who were the first people to make a unsupported crossing of the Patagonia Icecap in South America. It took them 55 days. They did it by putting everything in kayaks and paddling from the east coast up to the glacier. They then used the kayaks as sleds to drag their gear over the icecap. In the middle they had to rappel a 600 m ice-cliff and cross many crevasses. The coolest thing was that Børge is actually here at pole right now! He skied in from the coast - I think it was his second or third time skiing in. He fielded questions after the film. Very impressive.

And I'll leave you with a parting Hero shot taken during a sauna session...

[South Pole Hero shot - me at the exact geographic south pole during a sauna session.]