That afternoon I ended up in the ice-block quarry.

The ice sheet stretched away in every direction- flat, white, and featureless.



Our instructor had chosen a spot at random and plunged his hand saw into the ground. He easily sawed a straight line into the ice and then sat back and looked up at us, shielding his eyes from the unrelenting Antarctic sun. The saw dipped back into the ice sheet, sawing two perpendicular lines to make a brick. He grabbed a shovel and levered the block out of the ground.

You can dig an ice block quarry as deep as you would like. The sea is beneath you, somewhere, but you could build an mansion of ice blocks before you reached it, at least this time of year. We made the quarry three blocks deep. We learned quickly that the quality of your hand saw makes a big difference. I had a nice, new hand saw with a black grip and very pointed teeth. I sawed through the ice like it was butter.



We would saw a whole row, and then go back with a shovel to lever each one out, one at a time. We deposited them on a sledge, and the members of another crew would take them away to build ice walls around the camp. Ice walls were needed to protect the camp from the sea "breeze", which was roaring across the ice sheet, stirring up a haboob of snow with a vanguard of snow devils.

We wanted to have the ice-wall built before we ate dinner. The threat of nightfall seemed imminent, but our alarm was needless- there was no such thing as nightfall here.

Another group was building a small trench, only three blocks wide. They piled the blocks on the windward side as a wind break and carved a table and benches into the side of the trench. This was our kitchen. The people who had been setting up tents sat along the benches with their feet dangling into the trench and drank hot chocolate out of plastic mugs. Some people set up a stove on the table behind the wind-break and started cooking. Some rock-and-roll from a set of battery-powered speakers started drifting over to the ice quarry during the periods when the wind was at rest. Dinner consisted of packets of dehydrated food that had been expired since 2001. We filled them with hot water and ate them directly out of the packaging.

I felt lucky to be busy in the ice quarry: in Antarctica, being stationary meant being cold. As activity wound down, Mark and I cut some additional ice blocks and built a wind break around the quarry. We built a wall of ice blocks on either side of the quarry trench and placed three sleds across the top. We packed them with snow to insulate them. We marked the entrance with a small green flag on a long bamboo pole. This is required because it makes you easier to find if your snow shelter collapses. We mostly did it because we felt that it lent a bit of personality to our otherwise colorless dwelling. It occurred to me that like us, the bamboo was a long way from home.

Our camp

Igloos can be very warm, if constructed correctly. As we were Antarctica rookies, ours was not constructed correctly. First of all, we made an igloo that was plenty big enough for two people. This was a mistake. We also slept at the lowest point of our igloo. This was a mistake. We each crawled into our sleeping bags wearing every item of clothing we had available. This was also a mistake.





The night we spent in the igloo would be the coldest night we would experience in Antarctica.

That sounds terrible, but I like the pictures!
» randomjunk on 2011-04-12 11:21:07

With the dude I don't want to hang around at all anymore, I've said repeatedly that I don't want to date anyone (including him), and he acknowledged that he heard me. He even said that he wasn't looking to date either, right now... But still, I don't trust him...
» randomjunk on 2011-04-12 11:27:49

Man, you summed it up. I dunno if I'd want to date any of these guys anyway though, even if I was looking...
» randomjunk on 2011-04-12 11:50:44

WHEN ARE YOU FLYING OUT OF BOSTON???? WANT A DATE TO THE REUNION?????
» undisputed on 2011-04-12 11:55:46

????????
» undisputed on 2011-04-12 11:55:55

I liked those.
That's cool!
» middaymoon on 2011-04-13 01:19:51

I agree with Randomjunk's first comment. The pictures are really awesome, but that would suck to be that cold. Hopefully your next experience in an igloo will be warmer.
» LostSoul13 on 2011-04-13 01:55:39

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