PLU Glacial Geology!: Glacier Travel Training!

Hi Friends!

Today we spent the day preparing for glacier travel. We will be camping and traveling on glaciers for much of our field season this year, and we'd like to be able to do so safely! Chris Simmons, our field mountaineer, arranged for us to use snowmobiles from the McMurdo Snowmobile pool.

Isaac started up our snowmobile after performing a series of routine checks. We always have to make sure that there is no windblown snow in the engine compartment and that the wheels and suspension system are in order!


Chris used a handheld communications radio to check in with McMurdo Operations (known as MacOps). We have to let MacOps know anytime we leave the station. In this communication, Chris let the dispatcher know how many people are leaving and when we plan to return! In the sled are three survival bags that contain emergency shelter, clothes, and food in case weather became stormy and we couldn't return to station.

We followed a flagged travel route away from station across the sea ice! It was a beautiful, warm day!

Isaac is an excellent snowmobile driver! Despite the nice conditions, it's quite breezy and cold on the back of a moving snowmobile.

We crossed over the fuel line that supplies the airfields outside of station. You wouldn't want to be the person who disrupted the fuel supply!

For our class, Chris reserved the facilities at Happy Camper School! For years, McMurdo residents have trained for Antarctic camping at Happy Camper School.

Happy Camper School has a heated one-room building available for classes. In this building, Chris taught us about proper sizing and tightening of crampons which we'll use to walk safely across icy surfaces.

In addition to crampons, we will also use ropes and harnesses for glacier travel. Glaciers crack when they flow over steep drop-offs; the ice extends as the downflow part of the glacier flows faster than the upflow part. This extension can create deep cracks, known as crevasses. When we're walking across a glacier we will work hard to identify these cracks and avoid them. Sometimes snow can hide the crevasses, and occasionally even careful travelers can fall in. If members of the team are connected by ropes attached to harnesses, we will be able to pull someone out of a crevasse.

Chris also taught us how to build an anchor using a technique called the T-slot. Here, Chris is digging a slot perpendicular to the direction of pull. What might be pulling in that direction? You might have a tent line you'd like to secure or maybe a person in a crevasse you'd like to pull out.

Once you have dug a T-slot, you can put an anchor in the T-slot, such as the picket Chris is holding .

Chris then makes a thin line away from the slot in the direction of pull.

Once the picket is buried in the slot and a rope or sling is connected to it, the anchor can be loaded.

A well-built anchor should be able to support a lot of weight!

Based on Chris' instruction, Brent and Isaac built an anchor and then assembled a pulley system to increase their mechanical advantage.

Next, Chris took us over to the local ice fall to practice roped travel on a glacier.

Each of us will travel with our own ice axe, crampons, harness, helmet, and climbing gear. We will use ice axes to stop ourselves from falling, a process known as self-arresting.

Chris demonstrated proper self-arresting technique. Your friend is falling into a crevasse, and you need to immediately self-arrest!! You drive one end of the head of your ice axe into the snow and you dig your feet and knees into the snow as hard as you can. In addition to stopping the fall of your friend, you want to do everything you can to keep you and the rest of your rope team from falling into the crevasse as well. While you hold this position (and your friend's weight!), the other members of your rope team would build an anchor and a pulley system to use to extract the person from the crevasse.

Chris walked us through how to and how not to walk when roped to your teammates. You want to avoid pulling on the other members of your rope team, but you also don't want there to be too much rope collecting between you. Excess rope creates a tripping hazard. On this roped travel exercise, we used two ropes and were separated from our rope teammates by about 35 feet.