Fuel run

Two days ago it was time for my first CAT train with the drivers. The mission at hand:  drive to RSA bukta (about 180km away), transfer the fuel that was pumped from the ship to the 18000liter fuel bowzers to the now empty 25000liter bowzers and bring them back to SANAE to be emptied into the diesel bunkers so we can have enough fuel for the year here.

8am meeting with the drivers, 7 seriously hardcore-looking dudes with beards that would scare even a blind viking baby, plus me, Jako and Mike. We all get assigned our Challengers and what load which team pulls. Bez (a Dozer ninja and previous overwinterer) and me would go in Challenger 5, which is kinda small, but super cozy and totally drives like a snow Hummer. The drivers go in their usual teams and Jako and Mike is in Challenger 3. First thing after the meeting is to clean up our challengers that are pretty snowed in/under after the storm the past couple of days. That being done, we grab lunch, steal some of the freshly baked breadrolls for the road (I'm pretty sure the chef has a huge crush on me, so I just flash him the killer smile and giggle a bit and then the breadrolls are all mine [evil grin]), and load our gear and supplies.

So we jumped in our orange chariots, and off we went, well, off to the summer depot to hook the loads and fist fight for who gets to drive in front. We took 3hour turns to sleep/drive and stopped fairly often to plant some waypoint poles. The best part of the stopping was to see how these uber hardcore men turn into little boys that have snowball fights at every opportunity.

Upon getting there we fired up the Caboose's genny, set up the pot for coffee, and then headed out again to dig out the snowed under bowzers. After lots of digging, dozing, and sukkeling, we finally had all the bowzers out and ready to be emptied. Everyone was beyond tired, so we divided up into teams so we could take turns sleeping and working. After what felt like forever we were finally done and we could depot the empty bowzers at RSA bukta for the winter. Driving back and forth between where we pumped the fuel and where we depot the bowzers I got to use Challenger 6, which is seriously awesome and way fast.

The way back was looong and bumpy, and much slower since we now had more than double the load. First problems started when we hit the second big hill, Challenger 5 got stuck, so I had to jump out, unhook the second sled, then we drove up the hill, unhooked the first sled, drove back, got the one we left behind, drove up again and hooked up both sleds again. By the fourth (and massive) hill, Bez decided that there was no way we would make it with both bowzers atached, so we ditched the one and drove on. And then came the dreaded Vesles hill, where you tend to get stuck, even if you are only pulling one load, so a few of the others had to ditch their second loads too, and Challenger 3 couldn't even get up with one sled, and then most of us were stuck...and then blondie over here had the lightbulb plan of the century...take the dozer off the sled #1 is pulling (which then makes it easy for 1 to get up) and use said dozer to pull up some of the bowzers that the challengers are struggling with!

After a few breath-holds and skipped heartbeats, we were finally at the top, which meant we only needed to depot the loads and refuel our challengers, and we would officially be back home! When we arrived at the diesel bunkers to refuel, some of the boys drove over on a skidoo to come say hello. It included a group hug (more like a group squish-the-stef) and lots of babbling about whats been going on at the base. Was the best welcome ever - it realy felt like I was home!