That’s the funny-looking tracked vehicle in the photo in the earlier entry below. It really wasn’t a big deal. I had to go through training for some of the vehicles here just in case there is a need for me to use one. The six of us in the class were shown how to do pre-trip checkups for each type of truck (there are a lot of nuts and bolts that can come loose on a Mattrack) and then we took turns driving around town.
The Mattrack (pictured here) looks like a four-wheel drive pickup, except it does not have wheels. Instead, each corner of the truck has a triangular track, each operating independently of the others. It drives similarly to a truck but reacts more slowly, kinda like a cross between a truck and a boat.
The Pisten Bully has tracks more like a tank’s, one on each side running nearly the length of the vehicle. Driving it is a totally different experience. For example, there is no brake, just an accelerator. A button on the funny-looking steering yoke determines whether you’ll go forward or backward. A thumb dial selects the “gear.”
To steer one, you cannot redirect the tracks like you do the front wheels on a car. You do turn your steering yoke, but turning it left, let’s say, makes either the right track go faster or the left track go slower or stop. I believe a hard and prolonged turn to the left will actually make the left track reverse direction, so you can pretty much spin in one place. They didn’t want us doing that.
I also signed up for the mass casualty team. No, that does not mean I volunteered to be a casualty.
For a place with more than a thousand people during the summer and with the nearest hospital more than 2,000 miles away, we don’t have a very large medical team. The first thing that is done to address that is the people who send us here required all kinds of medical tests and checkups. People are in pretty good health before they ever get on a plane south.
But there are a couple of doctors, a dentist and additional staff. So, the biggest potential problem is an accident that injures a lot of people. That, too, is addressed in a pro-active manner with considerable training and safety guidelines. Like driver training.
If something does produce a lot of injuries, the first line of defense is a large fire department and all the firefighters have emergency medical training. Next is the mass casualty incident team. There are several roles different people play. Mine is as a stretcher bearer. Our job is to move the injured so more highly trained people can concentrate on the patients.
It’s all part of being a community and being prepared. I’m sure a lot of people have thought out how to face any number of problems. I’ve heard there is a written plan in case nearby Mount Erebus should erupt. (Technically, I believe it’s erupting all the time, though it’s in small amounts.) I’m not sure I want to see that plan, just in case all it says is something like “pile everyone you can into the nearest plane and take off.”
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