This morning the annual chess championships were held at the Chilean base. Carlos the school teacher said maybe one day the chess would be included in the Antarctic Olympics, it would be nice though at the moment because the chess mainly consists of Chilean participants it is a separate event. Steve competed against some local experts, including Miguel, the x-box loving eleven year old who moved so fast the game was over almost as soon as it began. All the children (and some adults) had been training hard in preparation! Our Russian Olympic poker champion was delighted to also win the chess medal.
The weather was wet and windy in the morning and pretty miserable but I was getting impatient to do some fieldwork. After lunch Steve and I were still indecisive about re-visiting the nearby lake that the Bellingshausen engineers had drilled holes through the ice for us a few days ago. We decided to test out the weather by first going to the kit boxes near the shore and see just how strong the wind was once the rain had eased. We eventually decided we would give it a go. It was the first time the rain had eased for a while and, despite the wind, we were both itching to do something. Also, it might be our last chance as tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better in the morning so who knows, we might even be picked up to continue the final leg of our journey to Jubany. We’ll see.
As always in cold climates half of the effort of fieldwork is getting ready. My fieldwork clothing consists of: base layer socks, waterproof socks, base layer leggings, thick leggings, wind proof trousers, waterproof trousers, walking boots, gaitors, vest, body base layer, mid layer, down jacket, glove liners, waterproof gloves, balaclava, hat, down hood, waterproof hood, ski goggles.
The kit box was heavy and awkward between us and I needed to stop to take off my balaclava as my goggles were misting up. Bulat suddenly appeared from nowhere and grabbed my end of the box as my hands were occupied. Lucky me! The slog up the hill to the lake was hard work enough without carrying a container of field equipment. The lake is only about a kilometre from the base but getting there is quite a workout. The snow has started to melt so every three or so steps we would sink up to our knees which was exhausting work. Combined with the rather energetic wind even walking a short distance is such an effort here.
The lake snow on top of the one and a half metre thick ice had also started to melt, meaning we would, again, sink into the snow down to the lake ice below. Bulat helped us with our lake coring. Rather appropriately we used what is known as a Russian corer – so we used a Russian corer on a lake next to the Russian base and with the Russian base Commander helping us! And what a fantastic laminated core we found, complete with volcanic ash layers and topped with a bright green moss. All our effort had paid off. A successful day and I was very excited to have done my first bit of lake coring through Antarctic ice!
We took two cores by which time the wind was becoming even more energetic and then made the slow slog back. Unfortunately, we later found our outside sample freezer that housed our prize samples from our two days work had been raided by the local kelp gull population, my carefully collected soil sample strewn over the ice. Luckily they had failed to destroy anything else and this sample is the easiest to replace. It would have been a different story if it had been our precious core material! Our new outside store is now, more sensibly, one of the metal (kelp gull proof) crates on the shore.
Late in the evening was sauna time – yes the Russian base has a sauna next to the shower within the generator building. And it was truly the hottest sauna I have ever been in. But, combined with the earlier strenuous fieldwork it meant I had the best nights sleep yet.