Birthday Antarctica Style

Friday saw my birthday come and go on station, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, tradies can utilise anything to keep beer cool and the BBQ hot. On arriving back from SAR training, the workshop had been transformed into a Bar and Grill for the afternoon. With a selection of quality brewed beer from the Vestofold brewery (here on station and another blog!), quality station wine and champagne compliments of the boss, steaks, sausage sanga's and birthday cake, doesn't get much better than that. 

Thanks to all for your kind birthday wishes from home and on station,

 Some of the boy's preparing for the crowd,

 Catching up on the day's activities

 One thing there's no shortage of, snow combined with the bucket of a skid steer to keep the brew's cool.

Feasting part of life.

Another utilised part of equipment, the rear storage of the Polaris.

SAR Rock and sloping surfaces

This week saw more training in SAR, this time in rock and sloping surfaces which the Vestofolds is mainly consisted of. This was a a lot more difficult than I imagined, walking a stretcher with a patient over uneven unstable ground can be challenging. The training is being pushed through as the sea ice is now starting to get unstable to the point where all vehicle travel has been cancelled, except for SAR and training exercises. 

 Craig and Val ready for the day, all the gear is laid out on the tarp behind for easy access if required, these training sessions are undertaken to be as close as possible to a real situation.

These are called "nuts" they are used in cracks to tie off on, not so much in an SAR situation, more for rock climbing.

Finding the right area's can be challenging, especially if you were dangling 50m off the ground

View from the top of Plough island where we undertook the training, ice burgs in the rear around to the plateau.

 Adam and the Doc having a break.

 Preparing for a walking exercise, ensuring we were all aware of which ropes and techniques were required.

Belay and Mainline team, looking highly motivated.

 Birthday muffins in Antarctica.

 Our patient was Gav, one of the chefs who volunteered for the day, doc was the attendant, as more than likely she would be required to carry out the job in a real situation, couldn't have been too bad Gav fell asleep for the majority of the exercise.

Again the lower in this case, was undertaken in both a horizontal and vertical position to ascertain which would be most suitable.

Team Leader for the day Nick, I was unable to get any more photos as my skills were required with the majority of the excercise.

SAR Snow and Ice

SAR rescue training was undertaken last week, in this training we learn to recognise correct anchor points in snow and ice, should a rescue situation arise. The FTO had found a snow drift drop off on the Southern end of Plough island approx 6 k's from the Station, which was suitable for the training exercise, the day was overcast around -2, not bad considering where we are and no wind which was a bonus.

 The crew preparing for a big day out on the snow, surprisingly sun screen is essential you get fried from above and the reflection off the snow, it's not uncommon to get sunburn under your in your nostril's.

 We travelled out in hags and 2 x quads, the sea ice is starting to break up a bit won't be much longer and no travel will be allowed.

Discussion of what we were about to undertake,

View from the top of the drift

The gear we will be needing for the day, which includes mainline, Belay, snow anchors, rigging ropes various other pieces of equipment needed for a SAR exercise, all packed into back backs which in most cases we would have to carry as most rescue situations would be on foot.

 This is a 3 point anchor system in snow which we used for the mainline, (which is the main rescue rope)

 Val topping up on lip balm, Stu looking like he is after a gig in a fashion mag, PJ opening a snack bar.

 Another 3 point anchor, this time for the Belay line (backup rope for the mainline)

Drop off, this was about 12 meters to the bottom

Sarah was the attendant and the doc was the patient, this was undertaken to give the Doc an idea of what the patient would be going through in a rescue situation.

The patient was bought up both vertically and horizontally to give us an idea of which would be suitable.

Mainline team under instruction from the FTO, re rigging the system to a 9:1 for the lift, not normally used in this situation, more to show the differences in ratios

View of drop off, back across to the mainland.

Helicopter Incident

Unfortunately we had a Helicopter go down about 100 nautical miles from the station on Sunday the 2nd of December at 9.00pm local time. There was 2 x Heli's out on a scientific expedition to study an Emperor Penguin colony on the Amery shelf.

It is AAD policy that 2 x Heli's fly together at all times in case of an emergency so the 2nd heli can be utilised in a SAR situation.

The weather was fine with some high cloud and clear skies, all in a matter of minutes, the weather took a turn for the worst and they both decided to turn around and head back to the station. The heli in front radioed to the 2nd heli he was going to bank to the right, it was agreed and as he banked they flew straight into the ground. The probable cause at this point is poor definition of the ground due to the white out.

There was 2 x passengers an FTO (Field training officer), a scientist and a pilot on board, the second heli landed, it was crewed by one pilot and an FTO. After landing the 2nd heli, they were able to assist all injured parties, 2 x which had been thrown from the wreckage on impact and the other, the scientist who was still trapped inside the cabin.

The mayday call was received on station at around 9.10pm Sunday night, immediately a Bassler aircraft with the doctor and lay medical team were assembled and set off to the site it took approx: 1.5hrs until the plane was immobilised and on it's way, a pretty impressive response time for Antarctica. The Chinese and German's both offering assistance both ground and air support.

It searched the immediate area for suitable landing site to no avail, the accident had occurred in a well known creviced area, and the weather was still poor, with visibility low. After discussions with the on site party, who were warm and comfortable for the time being, it was decided that they would return to station and attempt a retrieval the next day.

The next day saw the weather still hadn't lifted, forecast was for clearing skies around mid morning. True to forecast the weather cleared and allowed a rescue to take place, this was undertaken with true professionalism and all involved on the station in some way from weather forecasting to carrying patients from the planes to waiting hags and into the medical facility here on the station.

The Doc and her lay medical staff had 24 hour watch over the patients until they were stabilised enough to be sent to Casey for evacuation to Hobart which took place on Wednesday last week.

All involved in the accident are expected to make a full recovery.