Summer is fast approaching and so is the Aurora Australis! The Davis Dieso Civil and Construction Skiway Division kicked into high gear with the construction of the Davis sea ice ski landing area last week.
The sea ice ski landing area or SLA starts as a blank slate at the end of every winter out the front of Davis station. The first step in the process is to check the location of the ski way for cracks and then drill the sea ice to make sure it is of a suitable thickness and integrity.
The area is then pegged out and the heavy equipment comes out to play. The ski way is prepared using a snow groomer which first levels out the bumps and humps in the snow on the sea ice using a drag beam towed behind like a grader. The surface is then tilled out using the snow groomer’s tiller which makes the surface of the snow a consistent density over the entire ski way.
The wind sock and the flags are then put up and you have a sea ice ski landing area ready to receive its first ski plane.