Cable pull

All of the strings we put in the ice eventually terminate in one building (the IceCube lab). There, they are plugged into computers (one for each string) containing the custom built cards that read the data coming from the modules. The computers are on the secod floor of the ICL, so the cables are pulled from a pit 10 feet below the base of the building to the second floor. That's about 30 feet or so since the building itself basically stands on stilts.

Our first pull happened last Monday. There were about 12 of us all together. The cable is attached to a couple of ropes; one inside a vertical tower outside the main building, and another inside the main building. A couple people are positioned inside the tower to keep the cable on track. A team outside pushes the cable into the culverts that are the entry way to the tower. The teams on the ropes pull (and pull, and pull). Inside the main building there are a couple people that take care of snags.

My part was on the team handling the inside rope. There were two of us pulling, and a third spooling up the rope. The first guy in the chain (Perry) has a handle that clamps onto the rope. The handle comes off and reattaches to the rope pretty easily. That handle is on a vertical section of rope, so he can put his weight into it. I was at the anchor position. There's a pulley at floor level changing the direction of the rope from vertical to horizontal. I hold that section of rope.

The team outside pushes, we pull. You try to get a rhythm going so things move smoothly. There are stopping points where the ropes must be repositioned, or the cable anchored. There are also snags which stop things unexpectedly. All told there were twelve of us (or so) working to get the cables in. The cables themselves are about 2 inches in diameter and weigh between 3,000 and 4,000 pounds. It's exhausting work.

We pulled in six in two hours last Monday. That's a record and is due largely to having a large team that worked together pretty well. One of the things I will never forget was at a point where Perry was hanging completely off the floor, I was pulling as hard as I could, and Delia (the woman spooling the rope) was advising me not to die. The order from the team leader? Pull harder.

Tomorrow we plan to pull in eight more. Ugh.