facing insecurities
Aug. 3rd, 2004 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayI was hoping to get a traverse out to the crater -- back to confirm one gravity reading, then down to the lake sediments (Haughton Crater was a crater lake for a few million years after it was created, sediments were deposited... after the walls were breached, glaciation and other erosion removed the 500m-thick deposit except in one part of the crater. This area is nutrient-rich and actually has lots of tundra-like plant life).
Pascal wasn't available. He said, "why don't you lead the traverse yourself -- take a couple of the Inuit kids and maybe two others?" I agreed... I'd been there before... but had never led a group into the crater without following known trails. I was a bit insecure and worried about my own capabilities... what if I got everyone lost? Or injured? Or hopelessly mired and had to be rescued? Or one of the teenagers wandered off and got lost? Or even a bear encounter? I was a bit concerned... but I had confidence after years of going on ATVs and traverses. So I went on despite my concerns. And we had a good traverse... It was myself and my sister Vicky as the grown-ups, with two teenagers and a French grad student who spoke about as much English as I speak French.
Everyone patiently waited on my gravity stations... no complaining. Only once was my route second-guessed, by the grad student (who wanted to see large periglacial polygons). No one had much ATV experience except myself.
One of the teenagers got badly stuck in the mud... she was following me, but deviated closer to the stream that we were following... then slowed (wrong!) as she felt herself begin to settle, then gunned-it too late... and then didn't get her weight off and walk alongside, but effectively rode it down deeper. Miles from anyone else back at camp... we were on our own. It was over the axles and pedals, halfway up the engine... and then it couldn't be shifted into neutral (lever jammed). Quivering cold mud up to my knees... I finally spread a plastic tarp to redistribute the weight so I would only sink a few inches. An inch of mud covering me from thighs-down... the kids looking flighty and needing reassurance and direction... I got three ropes tied, directed them to spread out 3 ATVs on dry ground, then they drove them and pulled to my instruction. We literally dragged it out, with the wheels locked. All five of us jumped and cheered! We scraped off most of the mud and continued. Whew. My group didn't have to be rescued. ;)
I got 8 more gravity stations... but discovered that the ones from yesterday are probably no good because I hadn't properly balanced the instrument beforehand. The manual wasn't clear... and I hadn't used one of these models before. Sigh. At least I have today's data, plus whatever I can get Tuesday.
Tonight, I saved out my gravity data on to two redundant means, and watched a movie "Princess Bride" for the first time. Okay, so now I get all of the Inigo Montoya references... ;-),
Here's my party, headed outbound into the crater this afternoon...
And my sister Vicky (here as a paramedic, but she and Rhoda (pictured) are also filling in as the camp cook since Frankie left). Rhoda got stuck in the mud later... ;-)
I've taken about 20 gravity readings, around the crater. Here's one of them, taken today... I write down the basic readings on paper in order to have a record in case the instrument falls on a rock and breaks later.
Back at camp... the evening 7pm all-hands meeting, held just after dinner in the big dining-kitchen tent.
Rather than my obligatory HMP flower photo, here's a tree: an arctic willow, scarcely 3cm high and spreading. This one could be 50-70 years old. Very slow growth... the growing season is short. But still a tree, genetically.
Pascal wasn't available. He said, "why don't you lead the traverse yourself -- take a couple of the Inuit kids and maybe two others?" I agreed... I'd been there before... but had never led a group into the crater without following known trails. I was a bit insecure and worried about my own capabilities... what if I got everyone lost? Or injured? Or hopelessly mired and had to be rescued? Or one of the teenagers wandered off and got lost? Or even a bear encounter? I was a bit concerned... but I had confidence after years of going on ATVs and traverses. So I went on despite my concerns. And we had a good traverse... It was myself and my sister Vicky as the grown-ups, with two teenagers and a French grad student who spoke about as much English as I speak French.
Everyone patiently waited on my gravity stations... no complaining. Only once was my route second-guessed, by the grad student (who wanted to see large periglacial polygons). No one had much ATV experience except myself.
One of the teenagers got badly stuck in the mud... she was following me, but deviated closer to the stream that we were following... then slowed (wrong!) as she felt herself begin to settle, then gunned-it too late... and then didn't get her weight off and walk alongside, but effectively rode it down deeper. Miles from anyone else back at camp... we were on our own. It was over the axles and pedals, halfway up the engine... and then it couldn't be shifted into neutral (lever jammed). Quivering cold mud up to my knees... I finally spread a plastic tarp to redistribute the weight so I would only sink a few inches. An inch of mud covering me from thighs-down... the kids looking flighty and needing reassurance and direction... I got three ropes tied, directed them to spread out 3 ATVs on dry ground, then they drove them and pulled to my instruction. We literally dragged it out, with the wheels locked. All five of us jumped and cheered! We scraped off most of the mud and continued. Whew. My group didn't have to be rescued. ;)
I got 8 more gravity stations... but discovered that the ones from yesterday are probably no good because I hadn't properly balanced the instrument beforehand. The manual wasn't clear... and I hadn't used one of these models before. Sigh. At least I have today's data, plus whatever I can get Tuesday.
Tonight, I saved out my gravity data on to two redundant means, and watched a movie "Princess Bride" for the first time. Okay, so now I get all of the Inigo Montoya references... ;-),
Here's my party, headed outbound into the crater this afternoon...
And my sister Vicky (here as a paramedic, but she and Rhoda (pictured) are also filling in as the camp cook since Frankie left). Rhoda got stuck in the mud later... ;-)
I've taken about 20 gravity readings, around the crater. Here's one of them, taken today... I write down the basic readings on paper in order to have a record in case the instrument falls on a rock and breaks later.
Back at camp... the evening 7pm all-hands meeting, held just after dinner in the big dining-kitchen tent.
Rather than my obligatory HMP flower photo, here's a tree: an arctic willow, scarcely 3cm high and spreading. This one could be 50-70 years old. Very slow growth... the growing season is short. But still a tree, genetically.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 05:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 06:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 08:31 pm (UTC)Of course, people are often amazed at what I've not seen, and my amazement is in no way intended as criticism or any other sort of negative comment, just to be clear.
Congrats
Date: 2004-08-03 04:25 pm (UTC)As for Princess Bride, I'm with GC on this one. I haven't seen it in much too long (maybe I can convince J & A to invite me over to watch it, since I know they have a copy.) You know how we all have our weird and wacky dating criteria? Well, two of mine would be "likes dark chocolate and The Princess Bride").
no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 05:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-03 08:33 pm (UTC)What a tree!
Date: 2004-08-04 05:09 am (UTC)