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14 February 2007-Comments:


The following is Cameron's email comment sent at 10:00pm (14 feb.):

"Here at the BASC station the poor weather -- that I hoped to avoid by dashing back in a bit early from my little trek to Admiralty Bay -- has finally rolled in. It's blowing 20-30mph at -14F for a -45F or so wind-chill. Again that's not so bad as long as you're moving and not a millimeter of flesh is exposed. I did have a bit of my upper right cheek exposed the other day, at -33F windchill, and before I knew it had a frostnip; it looks like a fingernail-sized reddish birthmark on my cheekbone. It'll go away, eventually. It's normal here. I'm glad that I made the good decision to come in when I did -- otherwise I'd have been hunkered down and would miss Kiviuk, which begins in earnest tomorrow; I'll start the day with presentations to three schools here in Barrow, then head for Kiviuk.

Darting between the buildings here, where plumbing, electrics, and all manner of conduits and cables are suspended above-ground on snowy frames and trackways, it feels like an outpost on a different planet. You quickly forget that outside is weather that, ill-equipped (for example, if you were locked out somehow), would swallow you whole. It's an exciting place to live!

Here's a list of things that broke or malfunctioned in just my little 36-mile, 5-day trek, when temperatures went to -34F: 'The cold shattered the hammer (which I use to hammer in tent corner-pegs); bent the tent pegs to pretzels (the permafrost seems hard as concrete; luckily I still have ice screws and pickets, so this is OK); my plastic bag for the cooking kit shattered (sounds minor, but even minor additions to the work load become major); my navigation and chart boxes shattered (also plastic); both my windproof suits were shredded (not from wind but from me bending over: it's OK, I have three spares plust he ArcticShield suit); both of my ski pole baskets (the hoops on the end that prevent the ski pole punching through the snow) broke (not much I can do about this); one of two watches simply stopped (it will probably come back when warmed); one of two stove pumps developed a bad leak (luckily I was carrying two), and the bear fence poles also bent when trying to hammer them into the permafrost and are now largely useless (I have improvised a system that would still -- probably -- alert me).

Sure, you can read about these things beforehand, and some of them I did, but after 20 years outdoors I know you have to experience them yourself...and so here I am, getting my experiences.

OK, strangely enough, back to the computer, to prepare my talks for tomorrow. I'm starting to lock in plans for the next 20 days and will have them here ASAP."



All Material Copyright 2007 Cameron McPherson Smith unless otherwise credited.