Johan’s Snow Bath

Johan Du Plessis, our mechanical engineer, celebrated his birthday on the 25 of June. 10 days later, due to bad weather, he took on his snow bath like a champ! Happy Birthday. Johan – the abominable snowman – scary, just plain scary…

Vincent’s Snow Bath

On the 30th of May, Vincent “Vince Diesel”, the diesel mechanic, celebrated his birthday for the second time on the Ice. Second time around, one would have thought that he would know that it is a good idea to wear something on your feet! Happy Birthday. FACT: If your head is warm, your body is […]

Panoramas

Here are some panoramas of the views from Vesleskarvet.

Happy Birthday Stefanie!

On the 21st of April our Cosmic Ray Engineer, Stefanie Strachan, celebrated her birthday at SANAE. As per the tradition, the festivities took place around lunch time on a curiously warm day. The wind was below 10 kts and there was a light snowfall the night before. The eager team of diggers consisted of Johan, […]

Crystal Palace

Skidoos parked at the windscoop. Occasionally, for good behaviour, the expedition and take-over members are allowed to venture down from Vesleskarvet and explore some of the surrounding areas. One such place is called the Crystal Palace due to the vast, blue-ice structures, which the wind has gradually carved into its frozen walls. The Crystal Palace […]

Throwing Smelly

Water is everywhere in Antarctica. In fact, 98% of the continent is covered by ice, enough to raise the sea level by 60 metres, if it were to all melt. This accounts for over 70% of the world’s fresh water supply. Despite this, Antarctica is classified as a desert – the coldest, windiest and driest […]

Whiteout!

It took a while, but the weather has finally arrived. Today, the wind speed reached 50 Knots for the first time, since my arrival at SANAE IV. Obviously, the weather can get a lot worse, so this was just a taste of the wrath of Mother Nature. We are confined to the base in these […]

That DARN radar

I have added some information about the SuperDARN radar to the pages section. Hopefully it will give you some insight into what I do here at SANAE IV. Just click on SANAE IV SuperDARN in the menu bar above.

Klein Bergie Excursion

One of my duties on the SANAE 51 team is to look after the climbing and rope-work equipment and to ensure that the team is adequately prepared to use it, should the need arise. This is done by regularly performing drills and by holding exercise sessions, in which the team re-familiarise themselves with basic knots. […]