Sunsets, sea ice, and sastrugi - a trip to Browning Peninsula Part 2

At 0730hrs, SCTO Clint was already on the job, offering us coffee in our bunks and reheating pies that we brought along from Station for breakfast. By 0800hrs we completed our radio sked back to Station, packed up the hut, (put on our frozen boots - well that was just me!) and set out to climb the hill to the repeater.

Piling back in the yellow hagg, we set off after giving it a good warm up. I was back in the drivers seat, having clearly not sufficiently terrified everyone the day before.

We parked up at the base of the hill, and then scrambled up the rocky, snowy slopes to where the repeater was installed. A small space case and two solar panels comprising our radio link back to Station.

The view from the top whilst only 112 m above sea level was dramatic. We could see all the way out across Penney Bay to the Williams Nunatak.

Browning Hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

Yellow Hagg all parked up on the ice at the hut. Photo: Jacque Comery

View from the repeater. Photo: Jacque Comery

The view over the Windmill Islands. Photo: Jacque Comery

The Hagg parked at the base of the hill. Photo: Jacque Coemry

Ready to roll. Photo: Simon Jodrell 

After scrambling back down we then drove down to the frozen sea ice edge at GPS point B-11, and donned our packs to hike to the north -east side of the peninsula in search of an elephant seal wallow.  Clint had never seen an elephant seal, and the group that came out last week failed to find any, so we were full of anticipation.

We took the long way around sticking to the shore line, as the sea ice is still only just forming. Large tide cracks were evident, and the ice crackled and popped as we walked along the shore line in the still air.  This was the first time that I had ever heard the sea ice crack. Intriguing and disconcerting all at once! Hoping to see one or two seals we were treated to at least thirty sub-adult males in various stages of moulting on the shore. The familiar elephant seal smell had me missing Macquarie Island.

Hiking along the frozen shoreline beside the tide cracks. Photo: Mark Graine

Checking out the elephant seals midway on our hike. Photo: Mark Grainger.

After a few hours of hiking we returned to the Hagg and set out retracing our track for the 3 hour drive to Station.

The things that stay with me from this trip: Antarctica is most definately as dramatic and striking as you could imagine; skiiing across Antarctica over frozen sastrugi would be the worst! (big kudos to anyone who's done it!!); it sucks when your water bottle freezes; and finally, this continent should not be white on the map. It should be blue. The exposed ice that we passed over for most of the journey was a smooth polished ice of a most beautiful pale aquamarine blue, and not the endless white snow covered ground i was expecting.

Every part of this experience is amazing, and all I can do is just soak it up.

The Brownings Repeater trip crew. Clint, Simo, Mark and Jac. Photo: Mark Grainger

Sunsets, sea ice, and sastrugi - a trip to Browning Peninsula Part 1

Last Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure of being invited along by a few of the guys to visit the Browning Peninsulat the south of Casey. Our SCTO (Comms officer) had to make a pre-winter inspection of the Channel 21 VHF radio repeater on top of the highest point on the Peninsula itself, and was heading out with our Instrument Technican and our Bureau of Meteorology Technical Officer (BoM Met Tech)
Naturally, with my freshly issued Hagglunds licence in hand, I jumped at the opportunity to go and explore the local area.
A windy foggy morning cleared to a spectacular bluebird day, and we set out at about 1400hrs in the afternoon. It didn't take long for the antics to begin, as we set upon taking all photos of the trip, of each of us taking photos of each other, on the trip. Confused yet?

Snapping a quick pic on the A-line. Photo: Mark Grainger

 The bright but low afternoon sun displayed a spectacular halo through the cirrostratus clouds. The sunlight dancing off the snow twinkled like diamonds as we forged along in our Yellow Hagg, with me at the wheel. (Such trusting fellow expeditioners I have!). We all wear headsets in the Hagg so that we can talk to and hear each other, but we can also play music through them as well to liven up the trip. Yes, I am considerate enough to turn my mic on mute before I sing along, and the Hagg is so noisy that no one else can hear you sing anyway!
We move around the Station operating area on set routes, and we navigate the Haggs along these routes by GPS and Radar. There is a high dgree of certainty that  there are no crevasses along out GPS routes, and we stay within 15 metres of this GPS line at all times, lest we wander off into a 'slot'.
The A-line which connects Casey to the Wilkins Aerodrome is a well forged path, and is so well packed that it is our Station equivalent of a super highway. Before long we turned off onto the B-line headed for Brownings. We bounced our way along the frozen sastrugi, and our speed reduced accordingly.

Halos and high cloud. Photo: Jacque Comery

Yellow Hagg. Photo: Jacque COmery

We approached the Browning Hut after a three hours drive not long before sunset, and after parking the Hagg into the wind for the night, we dumped our packs in the hut, and scampered off over a few local hills to watch the sunset upon the ice cliffs of the Vanderford Glacier. It was a chilly minus 13C, and colder with a significant wind chill.
The views were breathtaking, and the golden light of the late afternoon played upon the wind blown snow in the most specatcular way. A few photos and many memories captured we headed back to the hut.

Mark and I checking out the Vanderford. Photo: Simon Jodrell

Me and the Vanderford Glacier. Photo: Simon Jodrell

Sastrugi in the setting sunlight. Photo: Jacque Comery

Sunset on the Browning. Photo: Jacque Comery

Vanderford Glacier. Photo: Jacque Comery

Last light. Photo: Jacque Comery

After dinner, some games and a few beers, we all crawled into our bunks and slept soundly!
We awoke the next day to an outside temperature of minus 18C, and minus 13C inside the cold porch of the hut. I was smart enough to sleep with my drink bottle and batteries in my sleeping bag, but left my boots in the cold porch to freeze. Rookie error.