My day with Travis and Meg

Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 72

Something tragic happened today at Summit. I had climbed up on top of NAPA (a place where spare parts to the snowmobiles, skiway groomer, and others are stored). I was trying to get a good view of the camp (not a very bright idea, now that I think about it). I fell. Unfortunately, I broke my femur (the bone in your thigh), and had to be treated by the camp medics. It really hurt!!

Actually, this was the set up for a medical response drill I participated in. I spent the day with Meg and Travis (he’s from Wisconsin, too). They are science technicians, which means that they do tests for researchers that cannot be here to run the equipment themselves. They also are the camp medics, so that if anything were to happen (injury, illness, etc..), they are trained to deal with it. Periodically they run practice drills, so that if there were a real emergency, they would know just what to do.

This is Meg

This is Travis

So, for this drill, we set up the scene that I gave you. Meg was the first one on the scene, and she radioed for help. Within 3 minutes there were people there to help her assess my “injuries.” Within 7 minutes, there was a snowmobile with a sled attached, and someone had brought all the medical equipment to the scene of the accident.

After a quick medical assessment, Travis decided that the only injury I sustained was a broken femur (only??). They immobilized the injured leg in a splint, and then placed me on a backboard so that I couldn’t move while being transported to the big house.

At first, I felt kind of silly doing this drill. Shortly into it, though, I realized how serious everyone was about it. It was reassuring to see how serious they took it, because they do need to know what to do if something real were to happen!!

After the drill was over, they had a meeting and discussed what went well and what they need to work on next time. It was very interesting!!

That was my major activity for the afternoon. In the morning, I helped Meg and Travis collect the lab samples they needed for researchers who are not here. We had to collect snow samples that would be sent to two labs in California to be analyzed. We had to wear “clean suits” and plastic gloves so that nothing would contaminate the samples (like lint or oils from our skin).

Isn't it amazing how you can just see for miles on a clear day like this?

We also went out to the satellite camp to see Mac’s backlit pit. You saw pictures of the 2 meter pit he dug yesterday. Today, he dug another pit about a foot away from the first one. When the sun shines through that wall, it glows a pretty blue. It also makes seeing the layers much easier, and as I’m sure you remember, one of Mac’s jobs is to do profiles of the layers of snow (how thick, what size crystals, etc…).

Isn't it cool how it glows blue when the sun shines through? I think it is amazing how you can see all of the different layers of the snow so clearly in this type of pit!

Today I also helped to get water for the big house. We do this by taking a sled with a big drum, called the pig, on a sled and pull it with the caterpillar. I got to drive. That was fun (and no, I did not hit anything)!!!