The Blizzard Convoy- Ran into a White Wall

Another convoy just came to a close. We left on 7th Oct 2008 and returned on 11th Oct 2008 after a mind boggling adventure.

The last few days before we left were very cloudy & very windy. The weather chart from Pretoria showed a huge low pressure system approaching us. It promised a good blizzard. But it weakened and was passing us up north. The convoy which was scheduled to leave on 6th Oct had to be postponed till the weather cleared. It finally cleared on 7th Oct & beautifully so. So we left on 7th Oct at 5AM. Mr Gudade, who is here for a geomagnetism experiment, accompanied us since he had to attend to the automated geomagnetism experiment running at the ice shelf. The conditions were perfect for a convoy- clear sky, absolutely no wind. We did not even need to wear gloves & balaclava for most of the journey. The temperature was comfortable at -18ºC after the -30s witnessed during the earlier convoys. The latest weather chart promised a clear day unless the low pressure system migrated south.

We were cruising along when we saw the first warning signs- cirrus clouds, those feather shaped clouds streaking across the sky. These are considered to be precursors to bad weather. We, however, pressed on towards India Bay. Gradually, it became cloudy & windy. We had already reached C group of barrels by now. We knew what lay ahead. But the only choice we had was to move ahead. The wind picked up as we moved on. By the time we reached barrel C14, it had already reached gale force. Snow drift started by the time we reached C17, about 20km ahead. After C18, the visibility reduced significantly. We were in the midst of a full fledged blizzard. It was now getting dark as well. We were following the tail lights of the vehicle ahead of us. The shelf was just 5km away. That meant a journey of another half an hour. So we soldiered on.

Just one km short of India Bay, visibility fell to zero and forward progress was highly dangerous, considering that the sea was just another 1 km away. These were total white out conditions. Even the tail lights of the vehicle ahead were not visible. The blinkers of some vehicles were barely seen. Though we had the GPS for navigation, but it was not possible to see the undulations in the snow and there was also the danger of ramming into the vehicle ahead of us, or getting left behind. Hence the decision was taken to camp where we were till the conditions improve.

All the vehicles were parked one by one alongside each other, facing the blizzard head on. This was done to minimize snow deposition around the vehicle. The vehicles were parked some distance away from each other for the same reason. Next, we were asked to proceed towards the Banjara one by one, starting from the vehicle furthest away. So Jamwal and I turned off our vehicle, collected our kitbags and proceeded towards Gaffar’s vehicle. Six inches of snow had already piled up in front of the vehicle’s blades in a matter of five minutes. We picked up Gaffar and stumbled to the next vehicle and so on till we reached the Banjara. Climbing the stairs of the Banjara was a difficult task since the wind was throwing us off- balance. The Banjara was connected to Jeevan Jyoti and all our rations were shifted in quick time. We made ourselves at home. We had a feeling that it would be a long wait before we could resume our work on the shelf.

As we went to sleep at night, the Banjara was rocking ominously in the roaring wind. It felt as if we are inside a train that is not going anywhere. The melting frost dripped on us throughout the night, as we slept fitfully.