Bechevaise Island - a night off station.

Working shifts means that days off don’t always happen on the weekend. So when the opportunity came up for a trip across to Bechervaise Island on 'days off' I jumped at it.

Leaving the station pulk sled in tow.

Bechervasie Island (Beche) is one of a group of more than 17 small islands and is only 3.4km from station across the sea ice. Its is roughly oval in shape and at its widest is just a little more than 1km wide. On Thursday 19^th May, Mark (Station Leader), Rich (Doc) and I loaded up a couple of pulk sleds and after morning tea (when the sun rose) we headed off. The wind had been a concern but it dropped to about 25kts from the SE. The temperature was very cold at around -20 degrees C and wind chill  more than -40 degrees C.

We made it!

Time to put the feet up and enjoy a  cuppa.

We set off at a steady pace with a tail wind at about 12:30pm, I was very impressed at how easy the pulk sled is to tow across the ice. The towing harness included two ropes connected to the front of the pulk sled with some shock cord then connected to each side of a belt harness worn around the waist. Rigid poles were not used. The sled itself has a watreproof cover with shock cord tie downs. Loading takes a few minutes only. Rucksacks, fuel or water containers etc. are easily stowed.

  We had arrived at the field huts and had a kettle on the boil in time to see the sunset at 3:01 pm.

Bechervaise field huts looking west to Holme Bay.

Bechervaise Island field huts have been set up as a summer penguin monitoring site. Buildings on the site consist of two fibreglass 'smarties', one fibreglass 'apple' (white) and a shipping container on a skid that doubles as a store room/workshop. One 'smarty' is used for accommodation and has 3 bunks, cooking and eating facilities etc. similar to what you might expect in a small caravan. The other 'smarty' is set up as an office/laboratory. The white 'apple' is set up with a single bunk to can accommodate visitors in the summer, it is small and cosy. There is also an outdoor toilet hut.

Like the location of all field huts around Mawson the views are spectacular - across the sea ice to nearby glaciers, icebergs and to the Casey, David and Masson ranges on the plateau.

A glass of wine and some cheese before dinner.

There are no Adelie penguins at the rookery over winter as they have all gone to sea and don't return until September/October to nest. But feathers and excreta over large areas near the field huts are evidence of a large population of birds during summer. Penguin monitoring to a large extent has been automated. Penguins going to or returning from foraging at sea are guided through races with weighing machines and radio receivers. Penguins being monitored carry a microchip that identifies the bird and as they cross the weighbridge their weight, date and time details are logged on computer. There are also 3 nest monitoring cameras that operate in breeding season.

Trig station ob Bechervaise Island

The view to Mawson Station

For us the purpose of the visit was to assess the condition of the huts and any work or supply matters that needed to be attended to. So we were able to mix business with pleasure. Given sunset was so early we had an early dinner by candle light and were tucked up in our sleeping bag by 9:00pm.

The hut was cosy warm after a few hours from the gas heater. 12V solar powered lighting is wired into the huts however with so little sunshine due to the short days we were reluctant to use lights for fear of draining the batteries. A generator is also available but for the the short visit we did not run it.   

Mt Henderson looms in the background

I had brought my camera gear hoping to be able to photograph aurora after dark. Unfortunately there were none active. It was probably just as well as the overnight temperature hit -25degC. The inside of the smarty became very cold as night progressed but we did sleep well, not surfacing until after 10:00am and even then the desire to continue sleep was hard to break. 'Why is it that we sleep so much better in the field huts' Mark the SL asked?

Over the sea ice back to the station.

After a hot breakfast we went for a walk over the island. We scaled the 53m summit to the trig station, took the obligatory group photograph, enjoyed the view back to the station and across the plateau and then back to the huts vie the north coast for hot drink and some lunch before heading back to the station via the southern coast of the island.

To test of the pulk sled on snow and uphill, we walked up to the melt bell in the recreation area behind the station. The drag in the snow and over the sastrugie (snow ridges formed by the wind) was noticeable and work rate increased but was still very manageable. On the downhill side however on the blue ice, we let the pulk sled  run ahead as it now had a mind of its own.