SNOLAB Shift Instructions

Tips and Tricks for Going to SNOLAB

• TAMU gets discounted rates through Emburse Expense, so check there when comparing prices for flights/cars.

• Flying out of College Station (CLL) is sometimes cheaper than IAH (also considering shuttle/parking costs to Houston).

• The winters are brutal, check average climate here. Gloves, heavy winter jacket, and boots are useful to bring, and many parking lots remain unplowed through the winter. Renting a car with AWD and/or snow tires is certainly reasonable for much of the winter. You ain’t in Texas no more.
  
  • Dylan’s first day at SNOLAB involved driving on unplowed roads after Sudbury received a few feet of snow. Also a few days of -15°F temps going to work in the morning…
• SHOWERS: Everyone is required to shower before entering the lab, and there is very little privacy in the underground showers. This is not explained very clearly in the online trainings, but your in-person SSST training will show you all of the steps. The following gender-specific locker room specifications come after you’ve removed your UG travel safety gear (learn more in SSST) and your boots. 
  • Men’s: After arriving to the underground lab, there’s one open group changing room where you remove and leave behind all clothing, walk to the showers that have curtains, and then scrub your hair and body with soap. Then you walk out of the shower to the group laundry room that has towels. Underwear and all clothing is provided by the lab there, and everyone gets dressed there.
  • Women’s: The women’s locker room starts with a narrow hallway where you remove your coveralls and lanyard to be hung up on hooks on the wall. This is also where you remove any t-shirts, shorts, etc that you may have worn under your coveralls.
    • Then you proceed down the (short) hallway to the queue for showers, wearing only your undergarments, and place your personal belongings on the provided tray.
    • There are four showers, and once you’re at the front of the queue, you call out something like “Any showers free?”, and wait for responses from folks already in the stalls. Once one is vacant, you head behind the curtain of that stall and remove your undergarments. Because you are permitted to wear your same undergarments after showering, it’s best to hang them up on the other side of the shower so that they’re ready for you when you’re finished. Then you step into the shower (which will probably still be running from the previous person), wash your hair and body with the soap provided, and step out on the other side. Grab a towel and dry off, replace your undergarments, and then head to the bins to pick out your lab clothes (sorted by size and type on the back wall).
    • Jaime learned on her first day that it gets quite chilly in the lab, especially if you have long hair because it will still be damp. So consider picking out a t-shirt and/or shorts from the bins to wear under your coveralls. Another tip for long hair is to pack a small hairbrush in your lunchbox to use after your shower. Hair must all be contained in a hairnet before you leave the locker room, so also consider bringing extra hair ties, bobby pins, etc. as necessary. 
    • Once you’re dressed, you retrieve your personal belongings from the other side of the tray and wipe down your phone, glasses, etc. There are curtains separating the drying-off areas for each shower, but it’s common courtesy to put the remainder of your lab clothes on at the benches/cubbies area (towards the exit) to give folks just coming out of the showers privacy as they replace their undergarments.
    • There are (generally) many more men than women going underground at SNOLAB, so the queue for showers is usually short, and there’s ample space for everyone to get fully ready at the same time. For general locker room culture, modesty and privacy are observed wherever possible, but the “vibes” are far from cold/distant. There’s a good amount of casual conversation that happens as we’re all getting dressed, as women from different experiments/teams use this little bit of time to catch up before the workday begins. This is quite different from the men’s locker room, as there’s apparently little to no chatting that happens over there…
    • Before you leave the locker room, check that you are fully dressed in your blue coveralls (and undershirt if you like) and hairnet, and that you have all of your personal belongings. 
• Some auto insurance policies will include rental cars in Canada for liability coverage, and some credit cards will include rental cars in Canada for damage coverage. Check your policies to see if this is true before buying coverage from the rental company.

Useful items to bring: