Kubb!

So what happens when your on a small island at the bottom of the world and need a good distraction? You play Kubb!!! Kubb is a game that dates back to the Viking Ages and originated in Sweden. It is a lawn game just like horseshoes however the objective is to knock over all your opponents wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Once all your opponents blocks are knocked over you then have to knock over the King which stands in the middle of the field. To simplify you throw shortened broom stick handles  at 2x2 blocks. It turned out to be a really fun game however at points it almost felt like dodgeball trying to avoid wooden sticks being thrown at you as hard as possible. Get ready folks I plan on starting a Kubb trend once I am back in the states!

Happy Holidays!

On Christmas Eve we were all lucky enough to be faced with a beautiful day. The prior weeks had been filled with clouds, precipitation and very high winds but when we woke up on Christmas Eve we had bluebird blue skies, winds around 4 knots and the temps right around 40 degrees F which is down right balmy in Antarctica. So Alex, Brian and myself decided to take full advantage of this moment so we took some holiday photos. Essentially what we did was wrangle an iceberg. This was a small bergy bit about 5-6 feet from shore so Alex waded out to it and climbed aboard. He then attached an ice screw and threw Brian and I a rope and we pulled the bergy bit a bit closer to shore. Brian and I really had no desire to get as wet as Alex. After we were all on the iceberg we celebrated the victory with some great photos. Alex has a nice blog post showing the steps we used to make this photo shoot possible as well as the unfortunate after shots of me not staying so dry once it was time to go back to shore. Ice Wranglers

Polar Plunge!

There is a tradition here at Palmer that when fellow station members leave or when the boat that brought you to Palmer leaves you do a Polar Plunge from the pier. Well I didn't plunge when the boat that brought me here left because it was far to early in the morning. So the next opportunity that presented itself was when our station manager left which also happened to be the same day RU27 successfully crossed the Atlantic. With Scarlet's success it was definitely a day for celebrating so I decided to take the plunge!

No comment on my jump position!

Rex collecting style points!

PQ diving right in!

It was by far the coldest experience of my life. The water was right around 0 degrees Celsius and instantly your body is numb and prickly. The worst part is that in order to get out of the frigid water you have to climb a ladder that seems to never end. Then you get to run barefoot through the snow to the hot tub. The hot tub sounds good in theory but initially your so cold and the water is so warm its actually rather painful until you get used to it. I am not sure if I will partake in this event ever again but at least I can say I have done it once!

Ahhh nice and warm in the pickle barrel!

Halloween on Station!

Like the old adage says "A picture is worth a thousand words", so here are some photo's from Halloween at Palmer Station.

I was the one of course dressed like a glider. My roommate was the Joker from "The Dark Knight" when he dressed like the nurse.

Maggie was a settler from the game Settlers of Catan. Her she is representing with longest road.

Dan was Danger Mouse!

Alex sported his authentic costume from his travels in Pakistan.

And lastly we have a glider encountering some biological interactions with Jenn the jellyfish!