Hollinger in Antarctica

I’ve been back at school for just over a week and people keep saying “I bet you feel like you haven’t been away?”  I definately feel like I have been away but it’s amazing how quickly you settle back into old routines.  The response since I got back has been fantastic and it was clear that people were following my progress and wishing me well even though I didn’t speak to them.  Some people looked exceptionally surprised (and disappointed) when they saw me and realised that I still have all my fingers and toes and have no real ailments.  I thought I would have more time to myself now that the expedition is over but I was wrong. I’ve been busy doing interviews and giving talks and presentations.  I am heading to Sheffield University next week with my samples and I will plan how to get school students into the university to help with analysis.  I have finalised details of the ecological footprint and hope to develop some resources fairly soon.  We’ve been on Channel 5 News last week and there is a chance I will be on Yorkshire TV next week.  The programme for Teachers TV is due out in March so the pressure is on to get resources developed in time for that.  Also, we are presenting some of our findings at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge in March so it’s fairly busy. I’ve had a chance to read through lots of the questions and jokes and come to a decision for the competitions.  The prize for the best question goes to Silvan in Y7.  Silvan actually emailed several good questions including some about how to work out the local time.  One of the posters in my classroom says “The best learners ask the best questions” and I keep stressing to students that it isn’t about knowing the right answer, it’s about asking the right question.  The prize for the best joke goes to Georgia with her mathematical joke (see jokes page).  All the jokes made me laugh but this was one that I hadn’t heard before and I thought it was clever. Also, I read it at a time when I was quite low (tired, cold, fed up) so it made me laugh and raised my spirits. You both need to see me to get your prize – as a clue it’s fluffy and penguin like. The next blog entry will be when I have more science results.

Despite severe tiredness and the impending doom of 35 hours of travelling (culminating with the M25, at rush hour, on the Friday before Christmas!!) the entire team are busy packing. Our personal kit is lying like a layer of dust across two dormitories and the group kit has filled the landing, the hall and the garden. Slowly it is being sorted, packed and labelled so that at later today we are ready to head for Punta Arenas airport. From there we will fly to Santiago, then to Madrid, then onto Heathrow, arriving at about 16.30 tomorrow. However, even once we are back in the UK it’s not home time; we’re heading straight to Portsmouth for physiological testing all day on Saturday. Finally, once the testing is over, the team will, for the first time in 53 days, head their separate ways.

As we prepare to fly back to the UK it is time for me to reflect on what we have achieved. After 8 days of delay due to the bad weather I am heading my way back to the UK arriving back at Heathrow tomorrow. Despite the recent bad weather and confinement to our tents I am glad to say that it has been a fantastic experience. My top three moments have been: 

1) Stepping off the plane in Antarctica on the 10th of November and getting a big hug from Carolyn, our expedition leader. Finally after almost two years of preparations I had made it to Antarctica. Thanks to all of you who have supported me and made it possible.

2) Speaking to students on the phone on the 4th of December. The whole ethos of the expedition is to encourage more young people to take an interest in science and Geography. Actually speaking to students who asked some excellent questions made me feel that we were achieving that. 

3) The Twin Otter flight into Henderson Glacier on the 16th of November. Getting a view from the air for 20 minutes of the vast expanse of the Antarctica made me feel humble. I have come to learn over the last week that this is one of the few places in the world where mother nature is still in control. 

I am hoping that my top moment number 4 will be getting on the plane later today and making it back to the UK in time for Christmas to be with friends and family. I am really looking forward to seeing you all. 

I will be travelling for most of tomorrow getting back to London and then straight down to Portsmouth for a full day of testing (yes more sitting in a freezer!). Thank you for all your messages including Bob, Sue, Andy, Chris and Susan. I hope Y12 have mastered nearest neighbour analysis and that the Christmas decorations look good. Finally, Happy Birthday today to Matthew 9WW and Alice 8IA.

After 39 days on the ice we have finally arrived back in Punta Arenas. It was a close call as I woke to strong winds which blew snow over Amy’s footsteps in a matter of minutes. She got up to take a call at 5.30am from the Leister Mercury and reported back that the atmosphere was tense in the mess tent but that they were hopeful for a flight. I went to experience the atmosphere myself and sipped on a cup of coffee as people paced up and down, ran their fingers through their hair and watched as anyone came through the door – waiting for the crucial decision. At 9.30am we were told that the Ilyushin was in the air with an ETA of 13.05. Hurray!! Now that I am back in Punta, it is a fantastic feeling to have my feet back on tarmac and know that I will be back home in time for Xmas. However, I was sad as I packed up my tent for the last time. It had been my home and safe haven for the last 37 nights, providing shelter and relative warmth, and I couldn’t have wished for a better tent partner. We said our farewells to the ALE staff and other clients who we have come to know well over the past eight days of delay. I will miss their company, humour and endless string of stories of life, love and adventure all over the world. As we touched down in Punta and the doors of the plane opened I smelt the rain – the first in over 40 days. I then had the pleasant experience at the airport of sitting on a proper toilet and later the first shower for 40 days! Tomorrow we will start heading back to the UK and all being well arriving back at Heathrow on Friday afternoon/evening. Happy birthday today to Eliot 13BB and Eleanor 11DO

As you read this I should be either in Chille or on a plane heading back towards Chille! With the arrival of the glorious Antarctic sunshine, that moved gently into place yesterday evening, our spirits rose. The whole camp hummed into action, with a massive attempt to clear the 2.8 kilometre blue-ice runway, which was under several centimetres of snow and impossible for the aeroplane to land until it was cleared. A huge snow-blower systematically shifted this colossal volume of snow in the hope that it would prove to be possible to fly the jet in and out. This is a job that has been running on for many hours through the Antarctic night (which, of course, is as bright as day here). This is an extraordinarily beautiful Antarctic day, with the new snow lit by the brilliant sunshine, little wind, and views in all directions to the horizon. In some cases this is over 100 miles. The good news is that as I write this I am looking at the plane being loaded up with all our kit ready for us to fly back to Punta Arenas in Chille and home in time for Christmas!  Happy birthday to Jamie 13CH, Hannah 10DN, Mohamed 9AB, Jenny 8RG and Thomas 7PL.

We have now been stranded in Antarctica for a week due to the weather. It’s hard to think of too many other places in the world where it is impossible to get any form of transport in to rescue you within seven days. It’s a little bit like being in Big Brother. We are confined to a pretty small place with the same people and each day we have tasks to do to try and keep people entertained. We even have video diaries to video how we are doing. I guess it is all part of the ‘polar experience’. At least we have comfortable tents, a warm mess tent to go to and delicious food to eat (thanks to ALE!). There could be worse places to be stranded. At least I don’t have to eat any more Chilli con Carne. Our latest travel news is that there is a possible weather window tomorrow when they could get a plane in if they manage to clear the runway of more than 6000 tonnes of snow in time. If that doesn’t work out we will most likely be here another week on top of that. That means that for the first time the possibility of Christmas in Antarctica is looming. At least we would get a white Christmas. It will be very difficult to be away from friends and family at Christmas though. We are feeling a little depressed about the prospect so any jokes or stories to cheer us up will be gratefully received!

Today I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about all the background support that is needed to carry out science research in Antarctica. Whilst we are have been here at Patriot Hills we have been helping out the staff here a little and it gives me a better idea of all the effort that is needed to run a basecamp. The tents have been drifted in with up to six feet of snow and we have spent a lot of the day shovelling snow. We’ve had the help of a Sno-Cat – a big snow tractor that Chris, the driver, is amazing at manipulating so he can move the plough at the front in and out of tent guy ropes. There has been such a thick layer of snow on top of the tents which has started to melt. This means that it has been raining inside the tents for most of the day and there has been lots of mopping and buckets out to catch drips. There are so many different jobs that need to be done here, cooking, mechanics, communications, guides, builders… The staff need to be able to be really inventive about all that they do. Using minimal equipment it is amazing what they are able to achieve. You certainly need to have lots of creative enterprise skills if you want to work in Antarctica. It would be virtually impossible to carry out a long term science project in Antarctica without all of this support. I’d like to say a big thank you to all the staff at Patriot Hills for all their hard work in supporting our expedition. Happy birthday today to Jack 13CM, Joe 9WW, Connor 9JB and Hayley 8AF.

 By the time most of you read this you will no doubt be starting your last week at work before the Christmas break. For all those at Tapton School I hope you enjoy the last week starting with the Christmas Carol service on Monday night in Ranmoor Church. I remember going last year - It always feels as though Christmas has begun on that night. This is followed by the A level presentation evening for last year’s Upper Sixth next Thursday and the staff Christmas Do at the Bristol Hotel. However the event of all events will no doubt be the staff production of ‘Joseph’ next Friday – I wish I was there!

As you know we were due to fly out on the 10th of December but the harsh weather persists and we are still here in Patriot Hills. Although the weather has improved a little today it still isn’t good enough to bring a plane in and the blue ice runway is under a good depth of powder snow. I am sure you are all getting ready for Christmas. It dosen’t feel like Christmas here, except for vast quantities of snow, which I suppose is not Christmas is the UK anyway. We have spent the day eating well  as we are now allowed to eat three cooked meals a day in the mess tent (thank you ALE!), digging out the mess tent and organising the Polar Olympics 2007. The Olympics were an incredible event which tested the participants to their limits through welly wanging (done with a mountaineering boot), a coconut shy (done with insulated mugs), hoop-la (done with buckets and frozen sponges), tug-of-war, a blindfolded sledge hauling race, an egg and spoon race and a treasure hunt.

Thanks to Bob for his messages and James who sent an answer to the question - How can we reduce the wind speed and turbulence experienced by our tent with a snow wall? He has suggested two overlapping walls at 45 degrees to each other forming a v-shape. Phil is going to construct the walls tomorrow and we will let you know the results. Thanks also to Susan for the “10 things you can do when stuck in a tent in Antarctica!” Alex, your contribution was appreciated too (I am not sure if Cara contributed but thanks to her anyway!)  and I think most if not all have been tried. Anybody with any other ideas please send them in. Happy birthday to Ben 13BW, Claire 10WL and Nadia 7CC. Finally I hope those who took part in the Dark and White trailquest today enjoyed themselves. I look forward to seeing you all at the next event in Jan.

What do you do in Antarctica when you are confined to your tent for yet another day? As the focus of one of my science projects (cryoconite holes) is buried under thigh deep snow I decided to use my day productively and bring together some of the data for my second project – to determine the ecological footprint of the expedition. The ecological footprint is a measure of consumption of resources and quantifies the environmental impact of our transport, food, clothing, equipment, waste and fuel use. I am quantifying it by using data from when we left Heathrow until we return there again, although there will be the impact of training weekends and of getting to Heathrow itself. I have entered data into a spreadsheet and will have the help of Best Foot Forward (an organisation that specialises in ecological footprinting) when I return to the UK to standardise and interpret the data. Probably the biggest impact is on the global environment through CO2 emissions from our air travel in actually getting to Antarctica. We flew from London to Madrid, on to Santiago in Chile then on to Punta Arenas before flying into Antarctica. In Antarctica we took one Twin Otter flight on 16th November and since then we haven’t used any motorised transport. I often ask myself, ‘how much motorised transport would I have used in this time period if I was back in the UK?’ I feel we have had a relatively small impact on the local environment. Water use is minimal; the last time I flushed the toilet and used water to clean my teeth was on 10th November, the last time I had a shower and washed my hair was on 9th November and the last time I used a washing machine to clean my clothes was 29th October. I think of the amount of water I would have used had I been at home. The last time I turned on a light switch was 9th November and I can’t even remember the last time I watched the TV, changed the thermostat on my heating or charged my mobile phone. How much energy do all these activities consume? In contrast, in Antarctica our energy use has been minimal; we have used 68litres of fuel for all our cooking, (heating?) and melting snow for water. Finally, over the last month how much waste have you put into your wheelie bin? We have generated 15kg of food rubbish and 65kg of poo! Now when I flush my loo at home I will give more thought to where it goes.

I haven’t been working on the footprint all day; other activities included watching ‘The Ladykillers’ and planning for the Antarctic Olympics. The events had to be postponed today due to bad weather (something to so with 20cm of snow and 30 knot winds) so watch the update tomorrow for more details! Happy birthday to Lewis 8IA and Aliyah 8RG.

Thanks for the messages from Ian, Anna, Bob, Alison and Kenneth. I have just spent another day at Patriot Hills confined to my tent and wandering the short distances between the mess tent and toilet tent.  The weather has been particularly bad again (poor visibility, lots of swirling snow) so I have been helping some of the Patriot Hills staff with general duties.  I helped put up a clam tent this afternoon to house some competitors for the Antarctic marathon.  The marathon is due to be held on 14^th December but the competitors are stranded in Punta, unable to get to the start line.  We are due to fly out on the flight that they are due to fly in on.  With all this waiting around I have taken some time to reflect on my experiences, rather than worry about the fact that we could be stranded here for at least another week (given the weather conditions).  So in this update I thought I would tell you what I will miss most about Antarctica when I eventually leave! The top three things I will miss are firstly the spectacular views that I get out of the tent every morning and evening (assuming that there is not a blizzard!). Secondly, I will miss Amy’s company in the tent after a hard day of man hauling. There is nothing more satisfying than being in a warm tent, with the stove roaring, preparing dinner, drinking a hot drink and having a good chat. Although we didn’t know each other before the expedition, Amy has become a very good friend and it is great to have such good company given the difficult mental and physical conditions. Thirdly, I will miss the tranquillity (assuming the wind isn’t blowing and Phil isn’t talking!). Unlike back home, there is nothing to mark the start of the day. Imagine you are lying in your bed at home – you know it’s time to get up when it starts to get light or you begin to hear traffic outside or the sound of the birds singing. With 24 hours of daylight, no traffic and no birds there is nothing to tell you that it’s time to get up. Happy birthday to Sarah 13CH, Jennifer 12BF, Leo 11DV, Alison 11LB and Abigail 8DY

I’m just about to start on my first chilli con carne dinner. We will be eating this for the next four days. It is such a disgusting meal that we all left it right to the end hoping we would never have to eat it. What a mistake to make! We were due to fly out two days ago but are currently experiencing a huge Antarctic storm. Snow, wind and very low visibility. The weather forecast for the next few days is not looking good. The peak of the storm is expected to arrive on Friday. If this isn’t the peak I don’t know what the peak is going to be like. Our tent is starting to look a little bit bedraggled. It’s now become a waiting game and it is a little bit like being in prison. There is very little to do and we are wondering how long it will be before we start to go mad. We are in good company here though. Our inmates at Patriot Hills include a famous film director and a TV presenter from Kazakhstan (not Borat). Today we strung together some aviation nets and played a game of volleyball at -10 degrees. It was quite difficult to stay on your feet but was a really fun way to spend some time. We are all now nursing hand injuries from using a frozen ball though. These injuries add to the catalogue of other minor injuries that we have endured. Sunburn, chilblains, blisters, bruises, coldsores, split thumbs and Ian has a minor cold injury on his nose. I’m sure there will be some injuries as a result of eating the chilli too. I’ve only had two spoonfuls and my mouth is already on fire!

I hope that you all enjoyed the Tapton School Christmas concert earlier this week. I believe tonight the current Y12’s are having their GCSE presentation evening so I hope that goes well. Happy birthday today to Nicola 13BW, Charlotte 13CO and Rebecca 10WL.

We are still very stuck. The winds have dropped which has reduced drifting, but there is still complete cloud cover, the contrast is low, the forecast is poor and the runway will need two days of clearing. Thursday is now looking optimistic, with maybe Sunday a more realistic date for flying out. The team have spent their time sorting stuff, helping out around camp, visiting the ice cave (where the food stores are kept – see photo below) and becoming pupils at the regular lectures that are put on here. Since the lecture on Scuba diving we’ve learnt about Andree, a Swedish Adventurer, who tried to balloon to the North Pole and that Amundsen was the first person to see the North Pole (and he was the first person to the South Pole, beating Scott); we’ve also learnt that these adventurous types tend to perish before their time. Andree’s balloon came down before the Pole and, despite surviving the crash, the team died from illness (their bodies were found 33 years later). Amundsen died when he attempted to rescue another ill-fated balloon expedition. It’s a strong hint that we should stick to teaching, not get tempted by the expeditioner’s lifestyle. By the rules of camp we have to live off our own rations for the first six days of delay and then we can go and eat in the staff mess tent where they are provided with three, incredible cooked meals a day. We have enough food, but the problem is that we’ve been trying to avoid the chilli con carne throughout the trip. Everytime we pulled the chilli out of the bag – it went straight back in again and we chose something else. Unfortunately thishich means that the next four days are all chilli con carne … oh dear!

So now, as promised yesterday, to answer some of your questions…… I have four pairs of pants with me on the trip although I only have three of them in Antarctica. I have one clean pair waiting for me in Punta (when we eventually get there!). There are four teachers and two guides with two people in each tent. If you used the tents back in the UK you could probably fit three people in them but because we have so much kit with us here in Antarctica it would be too cramped for any more than two per tent. We have enough rations with us for 36 days on the ice and we have currently been here 31 days so we still have plenty of food left although it is mostly Chilli con carne which is my least favourite. The highest temperature has been 2 degrees and the coldest recorded air temperature has been -21 degrees. However if the wind is strong it makes it feel much colder. The strongest wind we have had is 68 miles per hour. If you click on the “weather comparison” page on the right you will see the updated weather stats. Yes we have got 24 hour daylight which is strange making it hard to get to sleep sometimes. We have two solar panels and a small generator which we use to power the laptop and the satellite phones. Happy birthday to Nia 12BF, Andrew 12HB, Meriem 11VB, Joe 11VB, Tom 10TB, Matthew 10JH and Kay 7KA.