My bags are checked and I am ready to get to WAIS Divide. My name is on the flight list to get out to WAIS and start the work for our science crew. Excitement is building! We are finally getting started after nearly two weeks of waiting in McMurdo.
As it turns out, weather in Antarctica is not exactly predictable. After waiting anxiously all day to get out on the plane, we just found out that our flight was canceled! Welcome to the continent of "Hurry up and wait!". The only real challenge of being delayed is that they don't give you your luggage back. Similar to checking into a flight on a commercial airline, you can't get your bags back (unless it looks like we will be stuck for a couple of weeks).
Luckily, our flight is re-scheduled for tomorrow. My fingers are crossed that weather at camp will improve so we can get in and get to work. We are currently splitting the science group up and only a two of us were going to head out early to get our work stations and core handling systems set-up. If we don't get out tomorrow, we will all go in together. Going in as a group is more fun, but it can also pose some complications. Often we try to split up our group so that we don't all arrive at camp at the same time. Why might we do that?
One of the main reasons we try to stagger our arrival at the field camp is so that we don't overwhelm the camp infrastructure. When more people arrive at camp we need more water, food, electricity, and space. All of these factors tend to stress the camp infrastructure. The camp usually does fine but like many things, it is often nicer to ease into large changes.
Let's hope for a flight tomorrow! If not, I think I might regret packing my towel in my suitcase!
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