all the small things

A remote science expedition requires a lot of preparation. It's a little bit like going to space, in the sense that we will only have what we bring with us. Like astronauts, we spend a lot of time thinking about things we call "mission-critical". For every item we're bringing, we ask "If this thing doesn't work, what are the consequences?" If the consequences are that we become unsafe or science doesn't happen, that item is "mission critical". Similarly, for every activity we plan to do in the field, we ask "What would prevent us from being able to do this?" Asking these questions helps us focus our preparations (which are time-limited). Today, I'm writing to tell you about some of the preparations we've been doing outside the lab.

(1) Vertical training. We will use Single Rope Technique (SRT) to access the caves that are so steep they can only be descended using a rope. We've been brushing up on our skillsets (and learning some new ones) at a local climbing area.

 

Tommy with a big smile, especially notable because this picture was taken at 8:30am on a Saturday morning.

(2) Gear Inventory. What do we have and what do we need? The complexity of this problem increases with more people and more activities. We have a lot of spreadsheets.

 

Caving seat harnesses drying in my shower. (It is generally not recommended to leave webbing in direct sunlight, I moved these soon after they dried.)

We also inspect vertical gear before each use, and remove (i.e. do not use) pieces of gear that look broken or worn-out. For items that are more complicated, like hand ascenders, we use the guides on the manufacturer's websites to decide when to retire gear.

 

MIT Caving Club gear, before inspection.

 

Does the gear we have fit? Rebecca sports well-loved XTRATUFS with a shiny new cave suit.

(3) Food. Since we're going to be sampling in remote locations, we're planning to bring our own food. Seems easy, like you'd just make a spreadsheet of the calories, fat and protein you need, and then buy foods that match those specs. That's the first step, but...

 

My spreadsheet approach led me to buying a lot of almonds (cap for scale). I tried eating almonds at the ratio I had recorded in the spreadsheet for a week. I never want to see another almond.

More than once I've brought food on extended backcountry trips that I either didn't like or made me sick (I have food allergies). I felt pretty silly about this-- as an adult wasn't I supposed to be aware of my own food preferences? How could I not know what I liked eating? The reality is that people's food preferences and food sensitivities change over time and according to context. The custardy-dessert you like after sitting on the couch may be a terrible thing when you're nauseated after a day of intense exercise. I wanted to pack food that fit the nutrition specs I calculated and made me feel happy, or, at least not unhappy. As a result, I have been trying some of the foods I plan to bring into the field, to make sure they agree with me (physically and emotionally) before I commit to them being the only food available.

I'm learning as I go. Some things like gluten-free pasta made primarily of cornstarch, just tasted bad (to me). No-go on the smoothie-flavored salty jelly beans. Other foods, like oat bars-- which I like a lot when I'm standing around in lab-- sit like a rock in my stomach when I go for a trail run. I also discovered some new foods I really like, I honestly had a dream about Gastro Gnome Indian-Braised Yogurt Chicken. I'm really glad the instant rice worked out gastrointestinally because I have enough of that stuff to fill a bathtub (at least a sink).

 

Freeze-dried food so good I turned down lab-sponsored takeout to keep eating it. Definitely the exception and not the rule.

(4) Medical Training. I (Riley) recently became certified as a Wilderness First Responder (sometimes abbreviated WFR, pronounced woof-er). This 85-hour class is designed for people who "work or recreate in the outdoors or in other austere environments where access to medical care is delayed or communication is unreliable". Lots of the methods that we learned in this class were designed for low-resource environments, like the process for constructing this makeshift litter from a dynamic rope, for situations where a traditional litter is not available to carry out a patient.

 

Students in my WFR class lifting another student on an improvised litter we constructed a few minutes before. Don't worry, everyone got a turn. It's about as comfortable as it looks (not very).

(5) Making things smaller. Getting supplies to Alaska is expensive. Once we get there, we'll need to carry hiking gear, caving gear and science supplies. We are thus motivated to cut the weight and minimize the volume everything we bring. I've been repackaging the commercial freeze dried foods I bought into much smaller and lighter vacuum sealer bags. The repacked meals are cheaper to ship and take up less space in a bear canister. In keeping with the testing everything, I tested both models of vacuum bags to make sure they could hold boiling water for 20 minutes without melting. Thankfully they did!

 

Testing to make sure actively boiling water doesn't melt the vacuum bags.

 

Food made smaller and more dense!

That's all for today! If you found this post interesting please give us a like or a share. We'd love to add "building a field-useable flow microscope" to this list. With your support, we might be able to meet our stretch goal and build that microscope. I'm off to make another spreadsheet...