Caryl Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Up on the Black Birch Range (1700m) Telecom have a hut containing various radio telephone (RT) equipment for other companies including service for police, ambulance, DOC etc. With the unusual snowfall on Monday night, the overhead powerline, much lower down the hill, couldn't handle the ice load, breaking some of the lines and cross arms on the poles, thus mains power was lost. The battery capacity is only designed for short term mains outages as there is a diesel generator on-site which should start automatically. It didn't. Further down the hill at 1400m is another Telecom site for telephone service for most of the Awatere Valley. This also lost mains power and the batteries failed shortly afterwards. They should have lasted more than 24hrs. Their mission, should they accept it, was to fix it! They first tried to drive up but got stuck in snow at only 500m up :-? . Next, they got to fly in a helicopter to the lower site but it coould not shut down as the weather was likely to change and the cloud ceiling was almost at that level. It lifted 4 batteries weighing more than 80kg each close to the site for them, along with tools, so they could temporarily connect them to the system to get it operational. The pilot warned them that if they heard the helicopter rev, to stop everything and run because as soon as he got the engine up to speed he was lifting off whether they were on board or not! :lol: The first problem was opening the door of the hut as the locks were frozen. They couldn't get to the higher site due to low cloud so went home. Next day was too cloudy for choppers so they got a digger to break a path up the Mt. It took them 4 hours to do 8km :roll: Then it was too dark to see the road so they had to return home until next day. Today they headed up again and eventually got to the top site about midday. It only took 2hrs to do the final 3km. There are more shots here This is ice formed on a waratah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Brrrrrrrr......... Sounds like fun, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 He laughs and says "And they pay me to do this!!!" :lol: :bounce: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 being paid to play in the snow grants job has some pluses some times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Lucky for some! Does he need an assistant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Can you carry 80kg batteries? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 By the way, this isn't bubbles, it is ice that formed inside the building! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 whoa. that's a lot of ice. I would love to have a job like that - except i don't like the snow. its all squsihy :lol: and i dont like how my feet sink into it. how did the ice form in that manner in the building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 I have serious doupts about him Im afraid. People are warm blooded creatures and as we dont have fur, we are suppost to keep warm This is best done by housing your self in air condidtioned dewlings and during cold spells (less than 10 cel) humans are not meant to venture outside Now to help him get over this dramatic experiance, I strongly suggest putting up posters of Rarotonga beaches and having a cool beer waiting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted July 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 phenix44 they don't know how the ice formed that way as it has never done so before. It has somehow come up from below where the cables go down through the floor to the outside. The snow isn't so much squishy up there as icy so most of the time they didn't sink further than their knees It is the ice factor that makes southern hemisphere heavier than snow in the northern hemisphere apparently. They say northern hemisphere snow has less ice so is not so hard and doesn't do so much damage when you fall over in it :-? Barrie, that is why he was wearing Arctic survival gear :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 They say northern hemisphere snow has less ice so is not so hard and doesn't do so much damage when you fall over in it :-? Barrie, that is why he was wearing Arctic survival gear :lol: If you have snow with less ice in it, then you have less snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 WOW Cool pics! (in every sense of the word) :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Thanks for sharing, Caryl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted July 3, 2009 Report Share Posted July 3, 2009 i miss the snow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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