Feb 23rd – Day 55 on Ice

Posted byAllen FosterPosted inUncategorized

Weather: Cold, windy. Temps dropped 6C overnight, with the higher winds. Temp around -50F, winds at around 10mph, windchill near -80F.

Today I slept in till 9:00! It was great.

I also got to go out to the Atmospheric Research Observatory this morning, and up onto their instrument tower (I think something like 60ft); the view from up there was amazing.. I really didn’t expect everything to look so different.

Entrance to ARO; I don’t know why they get a cool sign and we dont…
Panorama from up on the tower. Behind Ben is the ARO building, which is nearly halfway buried by now. Way off in the distance on the right is SPT. The Sun’s position makes it a bit difficult to see everything behind the station, but you can see the exhaust trail from the power plant go off to the right and over the horizon.

After my mini tour of ARO, I went for an outdoor run with 2 other folks, down the access road next to the ski-way. I think it was my coldest run; -50F with windchill -80F, but I dressed appropriately and wore 2 balaclavas, so I was really quite warm the entire time.

Mandatory post-run selfie.
My hat, balaclavas and (2nd pair of!!) goggles. My first pair of goggles completely froze over, so it was nice to have a backup.

After the run, I decided to do some beer cans. Unfortunately I was wearing the same pants as during the run, which were already sweaty… and they froze after a few minutes, making it difficult to climb 2 stairs at a time (it’s probably -50F to -60F in the beer can)! .. I only did 12 sets.. maybe I’ll have to go back for round 2 later.

The bottom of the beer can. Off to the right is the tunnel leading to the storage arches, power plant, ice tunnels, etc. Down here we’re about 20-30 feet below the snow line.
A useless look up the beer can. I don’t remember how many flights there are, but its enough to get me huffing and puffing by the top! There are windows above the snow line, which are the cause of the bluish light you see up higher.

I then did a 3km row in the gym to warm up. And now I need to do laundry. Sundays are fun!

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