Three GrIT tractors roll across Greenland's icesheet. All photos: Robin Davies

It’s that time again! CH2M HILL Polar Services personnel are enroute to Summit Station on their annual overland resupply traverse. The Greenland Inland Traverse (“GrIT”) team departed the coastal Thule Air Base on the U.S. National Science Foundation-funded GrIT earlier this month.

“The GrIT crew seemed happy, although a bit anxious, to get out of town following the 4th coldest winter snap in Thule history,” wrote CPS project manager, Geoff Phillips. “It was a long, cold prep season for GrIT that wasn’t without its unexpected yet chronic equipment troubles that always concern the crew when they pull away from town. They left at the beginning of the longest stretch of fair weather we have had since we got here in late January and it appears to be following them up the route.

Winds blowing 10-15 knots and temperatures around -45 made early spring work near Thule Air Base a challenge.

“They made great time up to Camp Century (approx. 112 miles out) although they had to fight for every mile they made.  The snow is very soft in some locations and required double and occasionally triple heading the loads (2 or 3 tractors hooked up to one load).  That makes for long, slow days and exhausted crewmembers.  They are staying in good spirits and remaining optimistic that the snow will improve soon.”

You can follow the GrIT via a website that uses GPS positioning information from tiny tracking devices affixed to some of the traverse vehicles. Bookmark the site and check back frequently:

The 733 mile route follows a path established in a 2008 traverse between Thule Air Base and Summit Station, the research station funded by the U.S. NSF in cooperation with the Government of Greenland.  The traverse continues previous efforts to establish a safe and efficient overland route between Thule and Summit Station.  An overland route provides a greener supply delivery option to Greenland stations which currently rely on air freighting.

A ground-penetrating radar affixed to the front of the vehicle found a safe route through the crevasse zone in March.

In March, the Strategic Crevasse Avoidance Team (SCAT) surveyed and flagged a safe route through the crevasse zone, a challenging 70-mile transition between Thule and the ice sheet proper. Using a ground-penetrating radar and antenna attached to a boom affixed to the front end of a tracked vehicle called a Tucker, SCAT images the ice sheet to keep on the lookout for crevasses. When the team suspects a crevasse, they probe and flag its location using Global Positioning Systems Technology. The ice sheet in this area is so active that technicians must study the route each time GrIT crosses it.

Back to the GrIT. The overland convoy is led by the SCAT GPR Tucker, one Case Magnum, and two Case Quadtrac tractors, all towing a multi-sled cargo train that includes about 45,000 gallons of fuel, two 12,000 gallon double-wall fuel storage tanks (for Summit), a “sheep’s-foot” roller packer (for Summit skiway grooming), a Crew Quarter living module along with miscellaneous materials, supplies, and food for the traverse.

The GrIT 2012 crew is Pat Smith (Field Manager/Lead Traverse Mechanic), Robin Davies (Mechanic), Shep Vail (Traverse Equipment Operator) and Galen Dossin (Mountaineer/Field Safety).

“The crews [traverse, SCAT, construction, technical, etc.] spent about eight weeks in Thule building the next version cargo sleds and servicing/repairing all the heavy equipment that is needed on the traverse. They also put all the sled pieces together to form the larger traverse sleds that you see in the pictures,” Phillips says.

Sled redesign is ongoing in hopes of maximizing fuel and time efficiency.

“In 2010 we tried to use air-filled pontoons that were purchased off-the-shelf from Whitewater Raft Manufacturers. They proved the concept that the design will help steady the cargo on top of them and even-out the effects of rough snow-surface conditions. In 2011 we tried a custom pontoon made from similar materials to those rafts, which worked well but had problems holding air over the course of time. This year’s design is similar but made from a different material and installed in a large pouch that will hopefully keep snow out of the pontoon area which caused trouble in the past,” Phillips explains. “The HMW sled looks the same as previous years but has a slightly modified formula for the plastic that was based on CRREL testing and research on the material. The new type of HMW should be more resistant to tearing while maintaining its ‘slippery’ qualities on snow.”

A cargo sled clambers over sastrugi (wind-sculpted waves on the ice sheet).

Another notable change in the GrIT set up is the replacement of the Wannigan, the mobile kitchen and office that was towed (along with the outhouse) behind the tucker.

“The Crew Quarters not only houses the kitchen facilities and communications gear (same as the Wannigan last year) but it also has berthing for five people and a shower/powder room. You know those GrIT guys need a Powder Room! It is a huge step up in comfort compared to the rather small Wannigan and sleeping tents,” Phillips says. “This should help with morale and crew fatigue since they will have a warm kitchen facility and bedroom always available instead of having to build a tent city every night.”

The GrIT crew hopes to arrive at Summit Station late this month, weather willing. On this trip they’ll deliver fuel to NEEM (the North Eemian drilling camp, an international ice-core harvesting camp), pick up cargo from a 2011 deep field glaciology effort by Hans Thybo, and return to Thule in mid to late May. –Marcy Davis

Comments (0) Apr 15 2012

NSF's Newest arctic explorer, Alexander "Xander" Jackson Wagner, shows his team spirit. Photo: Renee Crain

Greenland Inland Traverse (“GrIT”) personnel arrived at Thule Air Base, the northernmost U.S. military base in the world, earlier this month to begin preparing for the 2011 inland haul to Summit Station.

Cooper and Quinn Irinaga show their GrIT team spirit, too. Photo: Matt Irinaga

To find a safe route through the shifting crevasses that make the first 70 miles of the journey challenging, four GrIT team members are exploring the transition from island to ice sheet. We learned a few years ago that the ice sheet is so dynamic in the transition that we have to find a new route using ground-penetrating radar every time we prepare to pass through it. Our “SCAT” team members—strategic crevasse avoidance technicians—are doing this right now.  Progress had been slow earlier this week as the team faced brutal conditions and a lanced segment of the ice sheet, but they found a way to “thread the needle” through this zone. Onward!

Damen Guthrie (grandson of Earl Vaughn, son of Dino Guthrie) does some sled work. Photo: Dino Guthrie

Back on the SCAT team by popular demand: CRREL’s Jen Mercer (navigator) and Allan Delaney (radar expert), and CPS’s Robin Davies (driver) and Kevin Emery (mountaineer). New team member Galen Dossin also is on the SCAT team, sharing crevasse-probing duties with Kevin.

Cash Littrell (Karla College's boy) probes the snow with his red shovel while Bailey spot checks him. Photo: Karla College

When the SCAT has found the path, the traverse proper will launch from Thule, with new vehicles, sled configurations, and infrastructure. We’ll share photos from Robin Davies when we get them. For now, enjoy these images of arctic program 2.0 personnel who look as though they’re ready to head out on the GrIT with the tall people.

Natalia Guthrie (Dino Guthrie's daughter) models Extreme Cold Weather gear, essential gear for all polar adventurers. Photo: Dino Guthrie

Polar explorers love cold conditions. Photo: Karla College

The National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs (NSF) funds the Greenland Inland Traverse. CH2M HILL Polar Services and Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratories are working together with the NSF to develop the traverse infrastructure and route to Summit Station. The 2011 spring traverse will deliver fuel to the NEEM international drilling camp and Summit Station, continue efforts to optimize mobility, and provide a research platform. For more field notes coverage of GrIT, click here. 

Comments (0) Mar 31 2011

Thoughts?

Comments (2) Jan 06 2011

While some retirees seek out golf courses and palm trees, UK born New Zealander Robin Davies prefers something a little more rugged. The intrepid mechanic, 59, whose contract work for Polar Field Services most recently included traversing from Greenland’s coast to Summit Station in a long caravan in the 2010 Greenland Inland Traverse (GrIT), spends much of his retirement contracting traveling to remote places of the earth for a variety of companies, all of which specialize—on some level—in exploration.

“When I wake up in the mornings I am a little stiffer than I used to be,” says Davies. “But that’s really the only change. I hope to carry on with this lifestyle for as long as I can.”

Life influences

It’s a lifestyle that began when Davies was a teenager. Having finished school, he apprenticed as a mechanic in UK and cultivated his natural talent to fix things. He also nursed a nascent wanderlust that would eventually drive him far from his home in a rural area on the Welsh border to all seven continents.

“We had farm animals and no car,” says Davies. “My traveling was very limited. I don’t know why I was keen to travel, but I certainly was. Although I wasn’t quite sure what else I wanted to do with my life.”

Mechanically Inclined

Since he was young he’d had an inclination to take things apart, “have a look,” and then put them back together. By the time he was 10 he was wiring electrical plugs. Fueled by his own curiosity, he “wanted to see how things worked.”

“There’s a certain learning curve,” Davies says about that early education. “You don’t always get things back together as they were.”

But with strong mentors and an established apprenticeship program (“that was pretty standard back then in the late 60s early 70s”), he quickly developed coveted skills for keeping trucks and heavy machinery running.

Call of the Wild

Davies atop the summit of New Zealand's 12,316 foot summit in 2006. "This was definitely the high point of my climbing carrier," says Davies.

During his free time, Davies honed his mountaineering skills. He funded climbing trips to the Alps, and developed friends in the climbing community.

“Before climbing, I’d never been good at sports,” says Davies. “I was useless at anything involving a ball, but I was hooked on climbing.”

Wanderlust

Once he completed his apprenticeship, Davies applied for a job in Antarctica and landed an interview. Almost immediately after, he set off to northern India, driving overland with a few mates, passing through Iran and Afghanistan along the way, and climbed for three months in the Himalaya.

Antarctica

He also got the job in Antarctica, a two and a half year contract from 1974-77. Davies was on Adelaide Base (long since closed down), some 50 miles from Rothera, the present day field operations base.

At that time BAS (British Antarctic Survey) was changing their mode of transport from dog teams to Skidoo snowmobiles. One of his responsibilities was to help that transition, working both as a mechanic and as a field assistant. During his second winter, Davies took on the role of Base Commander which also ment being sworn in as a Magistrate (Something the British did back then to strengthen their claim on the “British Antarctic Territories”).

During his third and final summer in the Antarctic, he worked with a geologist on Rothchild Island. There were two mountain ranges that had never been visited before. While the geologist was busy hammering rocks he was able to “nip up some of the easier peaks and made several first ascents.”

A Formative Experience

One night when they were camped in a pass between two mountains, they were hit by a sudden storm that blew down and damaged their Scott tent. It was two days before the wind abated and a plane was able to get them with a replacement tent. This is now on the map as Bivouac Pass.  Also among the place names proposed (and were accepted) by the geologist that he worked with was Davies Cliffs, an escarpment with easy snow slopes to several unnamed summits on one side and dramatic cliffs on the other.

Around the World

After Antarctica and travels through South and North America, Davies found himself in Scotland where he met his wife. After a spell of traveling through Africa and a couple of seasons in Spitzbergen with Cambridge University they returned to Scotland and settled for about 10 years, had a son and daughter, and then Davies got an opportunity to work for Schlumberger doing seismic survey work in Kenya.

Seismic in Africa

The learning curve that never ends: Stuck in soft sand on the above trip in the UAE, close to the Saudi border and on the edge of the Empty Quarter, Davies lets out tire pressure down after digging for 30 minutes. "All quite normal when traveling in these areas."

Seismic survey is the mapping of oil fields using an energy source—either dynamite or large vibrator trucks that vibrate the ground. The shock wave/vibrations reflect back off the rock layers under the ground and are picked up by geophones (like little microphones but they sense vibration in the ground rather than noise) at the surface.

The job was six weeks on and three weeks off, and he went to try it out. He worked for the company at locations in Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Oman, the UAE and more recently, in between spells in Greenland, Australia for 18 years.

A Family Man

The family moved to New Zealand for a home base, and the kids had a childhood drastically different from Davies’s.

“We certainly took them on quite a few trips,” says Davies. “We had family holidays when they were younger to South Africa, Namibia, Oman. They’re pretty adventurous now.”

Davies on vacation in New Zealand's southern Alps.

Arctic Bound

About five years ago, while working in Saudi Arabia, Davies met Paul Rose, who had worked in Greenland for Polar Field Services. Greenland sounded enticing to Davies.

“At that time, my normal schedule was six weeks on, three weeks off, and I suggested to the company that rather than flying home, I fly to Greenland,” he says. “I got there at no cost to myself or PFS.”

The recon trip yielded a contract, and Davies loved Greenland.

“I’m attracted to areas with dramatic scenery, to remote areas,” he says. I’m not big on cities. In Greenland you get tremendous light shows, phenomenal aurora borealis, sun dogs and halos.”

Self Portraint at Summit Camp, 2007.

Into the PFS Fold

In Greenland, Davies was the Summit Camp mechanic during the summer seasons of 05, 06 and 07, and in 2008 he was the winter-over mechanic for the third phase of the year. After the third phase, from February to early May, he returned to Summit Camp in July to join the first Traverse for the return trip to Thule; weather conditions prevented the traverse from reaching Thule, and Davies returned during the October expedition to retrieve the equipment.

Self Portrait outside of the Big House at Summit Camp.

Greenland Inland Traverse (GrIT)

This year, Davies participated on the 4-week traverse (plus a week route finding through the crevasse zone using ground penetrating radar) from Thule Air Base to Summit Station. Day after day the team slogged south.

“The first 100 miles were spectacular as we wound are way through the coastal mountain range, but after that one could say it was quite boring as every day is the same, but I really like that type of travel,” says Davies. ” I like aiming for a destination that is a long way off, knowing that you have to get up and get some mileage that day. It’s very much like running a marathon. Not that I’ve ever run one. But you have to pace yourself.”

Advice from the Expert

Davies has paced himself his entire life, and he’s forged an admirable, adventurous career. As for those who want to follow in his footsteps, Davies offers the following advice:

When an opportunity to travel comes along, grasp it with both hands and don’t worry about the details. I often have little panic attacks before a big trip about how to cope in a strange country or environment, but I’ve found over the years that things always work out. And a bit of stress during a trip makes for better stories afterwards!

Setting an Example

Beyond his words, though, is his example. Davies has pursued a path that takes him to places he’s curious about and enjoys.

“The places I like to go are often deserts,” he says. “They can be cold or hot. I worked in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia where the sand dunes are the size of mountains. Oman has beautiful rugged country. And Greenland, I love Greenland.”

Comments (4) Jul 27 2010

In 2008, a Polar Field Services team completed a successful overland traverse from Thule, Greenland, to Summit Station. But along the way they battled a mushy snowpack. Equipment sunk deep into the snow, sleds occasionally got stuck, progress was slow.

So this year the Greenland Inland Traverse (GrIT) decided to take advantage of the long travel days and study the snowpack that had previously slowed their progress.

Zoe sets up "Bob's Box." All photos courtesy Robin Davies

Using methodology developed by Bob Hawley, the team measured snow compaction by drilling a hole and taking images with an infrared camera. The photos tell scientists how much the snow layers have compacted as they’ve become firn, thus helping with the very precise mass balance measurements they make for satellite ground truthing.

The team also took snow samples from pits to measure density. Samples were taken every 10 cm in a 1 meter pit.

Zoe takes snow samples.

Suffering for science: Zoe takes 10 samples at 10 cm intervals. This is the coldest job she performed on the traverse. To prevent contamination of the samples, she wore disposable plastic gloves which, unfortunately, aren't big enough to accommodate a decent pair of gloves.

The team also took measurements to detect crevasses.

Two team members fit the 200MHz antenna to the Tucker boom to collect the ice bridge data.

All of the data will be analyzed and will help the planning for next year’s GrIT. Check back soon for results.

Comments (0) Jul 08 2010