Annual glaciological trip

This year, I had my glaciological trip the very day after an Anglesey geology trip. And that’s ok! The weather had been great the day before, so that was promising. 

This year I had booked a demonstrator. In earlier years, it had happened that Lynda had a migraine on the day and had to pull out at the last minute. And I had David stand me up as the first aider. So I had become cautious! I had reminded David several times so chances of him not appearing had been left as small as I can make them. And if Lynda would be ill I would still have my demonstrator, who was Finley, my old MSc student. 

Everybody made it. And almost all the students were there. There was a bit of a hiccup; the coach rental company had had a bit of a brain fart and not assigned us a big enough coach. Luckily, half the university was out on a trip, so they just swapped us around with another cohort that seemed to fit into our smaller vehicle. Then we were good to go.

At Pen-y-Pass we had the usual wait for all who needed the toilet to negotiate the queues. Or rather: queue, as of course there were plenty of loos for the needs of the gents. And then we were off! 

It was the wettest when we arrived on site. Quite some waterproofs were put on. But it stayed pretty much dry from then on! 

After my spiel the students spread out in small groups, and set out to collect their measurements. And soon afterwards I went off after them. It is important to check whether they are really measuring what they should measure. If they don't, the data set gets really difficult to interpret! I only had to move one group who had got the wrong end of the mistake. And it was good I also Lynda and Finley on the case.

Notice the small groups of students scattered around

The lake level was low and there were rocks available that are often submerged

I asked Finley to collect the locations of all groups on the map. And at some point I just sat down and had my lunch. I always struggle a bit too get my food and drink in if I am responsible for a trip! This is something that is easier during the Anglesey geology trips, where I am not the person with whom the buck stops. 

After a while every group was done, and some people were getting a bit cold. So I did my epilogue a bit earlier. And then we went down back to the youth hostel. You can't phone the coach driver to come and pick us up a bit earlier from that location as there is no phone signal there, but Finley had volunteered for walking in the direction of the village, and phoning him wherever that was possible. But on the way down we came past a patch with signal. I quickly phoned the coach driver while I could! And then had to leg it towards the front to stop Finley from walking off.

I think next year I will book the coach to pick us up a bit earlier. In the worst case, you don't have a complete data set, but you would still have a usable one. And it saves students from getting cold and bored. For this year it was done again. And two days later I had the complete data set!

I hope this cohort of students will do well on the field trip report. But that is a matter November. And after two days in the field I was glad to be able to do a few days in the office. Especially with the current avalanche of dissertation topic proposals I had to deal with!