Here are the penguins I have seen in Antarctica so far, in order of appearance:
30 November 2007
22 November 2007
Thanksgiving day, Nov 2007
Summary: Tonight is the wind’s, and tomorrow I get a day off!
Tonight is the wind’s
We (Michel, Jin-A, and I) had signed up for this evening’s trip to Cape Evans, so Jin-A and I returned to McMurdo on the early shuttle to pack and prepare (our ECW gear, eat dinner, etc); Michel remained at LDB for the results of his CherCam muon run. Our LDB weatherman Ross also happened to be on this trip, and we met at dinner to discuss our sadness: the weather forecast threatened high winds and snow, both falling and blowing. It has been beautiful all day, and we were almost all disappointed. Michel returned from LDB with news that the data collection board for half the CherCam is not working. He will not be able to play again until it’s fixed. Luckily, he has a spare board, we have the tools, and he should be able to get in touch with his colleagues in France for any last minute assistance.
I couldn’t stand the idea of another night in my corner of room, doing more such mundane things as laundry (last night), so I asked Jin-A and Young Soo if they wanted to go for a walk. We settled on the hut that’s just outside our dorms’ back doors, braced by a ridge topped with two crosses: people died here. As we walked under gray skies around the iced-in harbor, I watched with interest as the snow began to trace the play of the wind over the land.
With pauses for pictures, we approached the hut. The wind began to cut through our clothes, stealing heat if not penetrating, so we sheltered on the lee side of the weathered wooden building. Its square, single-storied bulk is being slowly buried by snow, though the wind does its best to work some sides free. The cross on the point beyond was tantalizingly close.
We looked at each other, and I worked my face free of my muffler. If we just go up and come straight back, we should be ok. Young Soo nodded and we set out into the wind. Heading up the ridge, we hoped for a trail on the leeward side. The view down from the crest showed a whipped edge of snow curling over a steep drop to the Ice a little ways below. The wind nudged us. I crouched closer to the earth, trying to make my feet as heavy as magnetic space boots, as I pushed through to touch the gray wooden cross at the top of the hill. Making our way back down, the wind tried to help us defy gravity.
Returned exhilarated to our little shelter behind the hut, we found the trail home a whirl of white, blowing snow, with the poles and building a couple of ultimate fields away barely visible. Seeing McMurdo station required turning into wind and stinging snow, so I didn’t try it. We stuck together and kept our noses pointed towards the poles back the way we came, slogging on. With less loose snow beyond the buildings and the wind dropping off as we drew deeper into the crook of the harbor, we were able to look back at Hut Point. The cross above the hut flitted in and out of misty whiteness as snow flung itself at the hut walls, still seeking entry after almost one hundred years.
As we walked around the harbor back up the hill to McMurdo, we scooped snow out of our pockets. The wind picked up straight into our faces near the crest of the hill to town proper. I laughed, ran forward and jumped. I think, on the 3rd try, I might have gotten a little extra hang time. The clouds which just half an hour ago blanketed almost the whole sky, have retreated from the wind’s fierce assault, leaving only a small section (~30%) of blue covered by lurking gray. There, the sun turns their edges purple and their tops a brilliant soft gold.
A cup of hot chocolate has warmed my hands to match my heart.
Day off:
Tomorrow is exciting: we get a day off! Not, as one might suppose, because it’s a holiday back in the states, but rather, because the batteries got lost. Apparently you need something more special than scooping up a couple of truck batteries to store and regulate the solar power going to the instrument. Those special batteries left their home in Wallops Island, Va with the rest of the gear. Somewhere between here and there, they got rejected, forgotten, and disappeared to sulk in some quite corner of the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear their tale of woe until we unpacked everything on the Ice last week and found them missing. The NSF/CSBF (balloon support) people here have been working hard to locate and console our batteries, to bring them to the Ice, but it’s looking more likely that the Wallops folks will have to implement their “the batteries hate us and we’re leaving them for another” plan. They’re taking the day off to give the previous relationship one last chance. So we’re taking the day off too. Except for poor Michel, and Young Soo who’ll be supporting his CherCam board replacement operation. On the other hand, they won’t have to worry about anyone getting in their way or barring them access to the instrument because some other test is running!
My first order of business tomorrow morning: sleep In. Wuh-hoo! No more 6am for me, no sir! (at least, tomorrow. :) Second order: drinking a nice cup of tea with real milk. There’s only powdered creamer out at the balloon site. Then I hope the weather will let me wander around, perhaps back out to Hut Point, up Observation Hill, and maybe even out to Scott Base, the Kiwi station ~1.5 miles from here. Unfortunately, I left my skis back at LDB (Long Duration Balloon site), not anticipating needing them before my lunch ski tomorrow. But I’m sure I can make do; maybe even walk out, ski around and then back to town. (McMurdo to LDB and back is the longest trip “allowed” here, at ~8mi.)
After work Sat, we’ll have our Thanksgiving dinner. I can only hope it’s as good as the lunch we had at LDB today: turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes almost as good as Mom’s, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I had enough fun skiing before lunch, with fabulous views of Mt Erebus smoking above its cloud cap on the way out and the Royal Society Mtns emerging from theirs on the way back, that I didn’t mind too much that the fresh fruit was almost all gone. The honeydew melon left was ripe and sweetly refreshing.
For now, good night and Happy Thanksgiving!
Tonight is the wind’s
We (Michel, Jin-A, and I) had signed up for this evening’s trip to Cape Evans, so Jin-A and I returned to McMurdo on the early shuttle to pack and prepare (our ECW gear, eat dinner, etc); Michel remained at LDB for the results of his CherCam muon run. Our LDB weatherman Ross also happened to be on this trip, and we met at dinner to discuss our sadness: the weather forecast threatened high winds and snow, both falling and blowing. It has been beautiful all day, and we were almost all disappointed. Michel returned from LDB with news that the data collection board for half the CherCam is not working. He will not be able to play again until it’s fixed. Luckily, he has a spare board, we have the tools, and he should be able to get in touch with his colleagues in France for any last minute assistance.
I couldn’t stand the idea of another night in my corner of room, doing more such mundane things as laundry (last night), so I asked Jin-A and Young Soo if they wanted to go for a walk. We settled on the hut that’s just outside our dorms’ back doors, braced by a ridge topped with two crosses: people died here. As we walked under gray skies around the iced-in harbor, I watched with interest as the snow began to trace the play of the wind over the land.
With pauses for pictures, we approached the hut. The wind began to cut through our clothes, stealing heat if not penetrating, so we sheltered on the lee side of the weathered wooden building. Its square, single-storied bulk is being slowly buried by snow, though the wind does its best to work some sides free. The cross on the point beyond was tantalizingly close.
We looked at each other, and I worked my face free of my muffler. If we just go up and come straight back, we should be ok. Young Soo nodded and we set out into the wind. Heading up the ridge, we hoped for a trail on the leeward side. The view down from the crest showed a whipped edge of snow curling over a steep drop to the Ice a little ways below. The wind nudged us. I crouched closer to the earth, trying to make my feet as heavy as magnetic space boots, as I pushed through to touch the gray wooden cross at the top of the hill. Making our way back down, the wind tried to help us defy gravity.
Returned exhilarated to our little shelter behind the hut, we found the trail home a whirl of white, blowing snow, with the poles and building a couple of ultimate fields away barely visible. Seeing McMurdo station required turning into wind and stinging snow, so I didn’t try it. We stuck together and kept our noses pointed towards the poles back the way we came, slogging on. With less loose snow beyond the buildings and the wind dropping off as we drew deeper into the crook of the harbor, we were able to look back at Hut Point. The cross above the hut flitted in and out of misty whiteness as snow flung itself at the hut walls, still seeking entry after almost one hundred years.
As we walked around the harbor back up the hill to McMurdo, we scooped snow out of our pockets. The wind picked up straight into our faces near the crest of the hill to town proper. I laughed, ran forward and jumped. I think, on the 3rd try, I might have gotten a little extra hang time. The clouds which just half an hour ago blanketed almost the whole sky, have retreated from the wind’s fierce assault, leaving only a small section (~30%) of blue covered by lurking gray. There, the sun turns their edges purple and their tops a brilliant soft gold.
A cup of hot chocolate has warmed my hands to match my heart.
Day off:
Tomorrow is exciting: we get a day off! Not, as one might suppose, because it’s a holiday back in the states, but rather, because the batteries got lost. Apparently you need something more special than scooping up a couple of truck batteries to store and regulate the solar power going to the instrument. Those special batteries left their home in Wallops Island, Va with the rest of the gear. Somewhere between here and there, they got rejected, forgotten, and disappeared to sulk in some quite corner of the world.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hear their tale of woe until we unpacked everything on the Ice last week and found them missing. The NSF/CSBF (balloon support) people here have been working hard to locate and console our batteries, to bring them to the Ice, but it’s looking more likely that the Wallops folks will have to implement their “the batteries hate us and we’re leaving them for another” plan. They’re taking the day off to give the previous relationship one last chance. So we’re taking the day off too. Except for poor Michel, and Young Soo who’ll be supporting his CherCam board replacement operation. On the other hand, they won’t have to worry about anyone getting in their way or barring them access to the instrument because some other test is running!
My first order of business tomorrow morning: sleep In. Wuh-hoo! No more 6am for me, no sir! (at least, tomorrow. :) Second order: drinking a nice cup of tea with real milk. There’s only powdered creamer out at the balloon site. Then I hope the weather will let me wander around, perhaps back out to Hut Point, up Observation Hill, and maybe even out to Scott Base, the Kiwi station ~1.5 miles from here. Unfortunately, I left my skis back at LDB (Long Duration Balloon site), not anticipating needing them before my lunch ski tomorrow. But I’m sure I can make do; maybe even walk out, ski around and then back to town. (McMurdo to LDB and back is the longest trip “allowed” here, at ~8mi.)
After work Sat, we’ll have our Thanksgiving dinner. I can only hope it’s as good as the lunch we had at LDB today: turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes almost as good as Mom’s, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. I had enough fun skiing before lunch, with fabulous views of Mt Erebus smoking above its cloud cap on the way out and the Royal Society Mtns emerging from theirs on the way back, that I didn’t mind too much that the fresh fruit was almost all gone. The honeydew melon left was ripe and sweetly refreshing.
For now, good night and Happy Thanksgiving!
19 November 2007
More firsts...
Sunday:
Monday:
- Fresh fruit for breakfast!! Amy says Jin-A and I look the happiest she's seen us all trip.
After all, we finally get my freshies, and I'm about to play ulti and go on a huge adventure! - Ultimate frisbee in Antarctica. 4 on 4 in the (tiny!) gym, and I suggested we play make it, take it. We have a nice fast game. Pepe from Brown is solid, Rob is good, and most importantly, everyone is fun to play with.
- Castle Rock! 8 miles, almost all on cross-country skis. We walked the first dirt and ice 1.5ish mi, and I skied the rest. Spectacular. Good company: Brett and Nick, two fish guys, Rob, Jin-A, Michele who was a wonderful help for us newbies, and myself. A wonderful get-outta-town trip. Traying joy down the bottom bit of hill. Happily, we both got a shuttle from the Kiwi station (otherwise another 1.5 mi hike on the road over the ridge to McMurdo) and had dinner waiting for us in the galley after our 7hr exploration. Possibly my best galley meal yet.
Monday:
- My first solo yoga teaching. Sat after work Rec'd scheduled me for Wed so I'd have more time between getting off Ivan at 6.15p and getting to class at 7 instead of 6.30p. I went to open yoga today to stretch after yesterday's pretty intense workout and found two newer-bies wanting to do yoga. So they got to be my guinea pigs for a mostly flow session of sun salutations, warriors I & II, triangle pose, half cow-faced pose, and pigeon pose (for my bum & hips :) bookended by breathing and shivasana. Afterwards, the gal said she felt like she'd just released all the pent-up tension of the last 3 years (since she'd done any yoga) and had a big smile. The guy, an airplane mechanic, also seemed pretty happy, so I guess I did it. ... Wuh-hooo! But my teacher-friends are right, teaching doesn't help you do your own practice. I think I did enough for me for tonight though, and the act cheered my spirits. And then... (aaannd theeennn... ;)
- my first snow in McMurdo! It's pretty rare here; the whole continent is desert or nearly so. But even rarer is that it's not particularly cold, making for the perfect snow-wander.
17 November 2007
6 days later.
Well, there have been lots of exciting happenings of late!
But first, your local weather report... :)
Today is our windiest day yet, with winds from the SE blowing hard enough to push us around a bit in the slick, blown snow.
Onto the events!
I got notice of package mail yesterday afternoon, so to pick it up, I had to stay in town this morning, which meant a glorious little sleep-in (until 7a). My packages turned out to be the toiletries and clothes box I sent myself, which I was worried wouldn't come for another week, with all the rest of the mail so backed up -- it'd been about a month since they'd gotten package mail. And.... I got my new sunnies! They are pretty sweet; it's exciting to be able to see in them without having to wear my contacts. With the extreme dryness down here, that's been a bit hard.
I then proceeded to housing which was mostly only helpful in directing me to the laundry room, where the lady gave me a nice fat pillow and an extra blanket. Feeling on a roll, I stopped in the Rec office, where they seemed quite enthusiastic to hear I was willing to teach even a few yoga classes. The number and timing will depend on the balloon schedule, which is as random as the weather once we complete our hang test, and probably one of the many reasons we're known as balloonatics down here. :) What surprises me is that despite there clearly being a desire for them down here: the first class Amy and I went to was so packed our mats were ~2 in apart and we had to stagger just to raise our arms, the several certified teachers are not interested in leading any classes. So I thought, what the hell, and, I'm actually pretty excited about sharing yoga with people.
With all that done by 9.30a, I took a moment to chat with Rob, whom I keep randomly running into. He reiterated the invitation to join him and some friends on the Castle Rock loop this weekend (=Sunday) after ultimate frisbee. They're planning to employ skis to go up and a couple snowboards to go down. And I am nervous about my abilities, but, if worse comes to worst, I can always just take off the skis and walk. Also, there is only one downhill, which is what killed me when Jess, Jeff, and I tried it last year. I think I will go for it.... and see if Anne, who skied from the Ice shelf to the Pole with AWE in '93, has any advice for me before I go! (Sorry I can't find a better link than that at the moment. Anne's not Ann Bancroft.)
My ride didn't leave until 10.30a, so I had time to pay a visit to the Crary Lab computer techs who set up the wireless on my laptop for the lab and are in the process of fixing my big data external hard drive. Whew! On the way out to LDB, Phil then regaled me with ballooning adventures, including the glint that caught the copilots eye when they circled the BLAST payload last year....
A parachute cushions the payload's descent after it gets cut loose from the balloon, and a charge then detaches the 'chute from the payload when it touches down. Except the BLAST one didn't, so the wind played drag-the-payload into a crevasse field, which is just too dangerous to enter, even for science. So they circled and circled the main section of instrument, trying to see if the data drive was still on it or in the faint trail of debris heading back in the direction it came from. Eventually, they determined it wasn't and the copilot mentioned the glint. After more circling, photo-taking and -enhancing, they figured the ~foot x 4 in x 4 in white box on the white snow was, in fact, their data. So the CSBF (balloon) guys made a huge plan involving landing some 30 mi away, skiing in and then out again, passed it by NSF, and then BLAST got lucky one more time. The pilot was able to land just 3 mi away, and they retrieved the box. Of course, the hard drives were damaged (this continent seems to like eating computers :), but they were smart enough to have professionals extract the info. Science = success!
Hopefully we won't have such adventures!
To work...
But first, your local weather report... :)
Today is our windiest day yet, with winds from the SE blowing hard enough to push us around a bit in the slick, blown snow.
Onto the events!
I got notice of package mail yesterday afternoon, so to pick it up, I had to stay in town this morning, which meant a glorious little sleep-in (until 7a). My packages turned out to be the toiletries and clothes box I sent myself, which I was worried wouldn't come for another week, with all the rest of the mail so backed up -- it'd been about a month since they'd gotten package mail. And.... I got my new sunnies! They are pretty sweet; it's exciting to be able to see in them without having to wear my contacts. With the extreme dryness down here, that's been a bit hard.
I then proceeded to housing which was mostly only helpful in directing me to the laundry room, where the lady gave me a nice fat pillow and an extra blanket. Feeling on a roll, I stopped in the Rec office, where they seemed quite enthusiastic to hear I was willing to teach even a few yoga classes. The number and timing will depend on the balloon schedule, which is as random as the weather once we complete our hang test, and probably one of the many reasons we're known as balloonatics down here. :) What surprises me is that despite there clearly being a desire for them down here: the first class Amy and I went to was so packed our mats were ~2 in apart and we had to stagger just to raise our arms, the several certified teachers are not interested in leading any classes. So I thought, what the hell, and, I'm actually pretty excited about sharing yoga with people.
With all that done by 9.30a, I took a moment to chat with Rob, whom I keep randomly running into. He reiterated the invitation to join him and some friends on the Castle Rock loop this weekend (=Sunday) after ultimate frisbee. They're planning to employ skis to go up and a couple snowboards to go down. And I am nervous about my abilities, but, if worse comes to worst, I can always just take off the skis and walk. Also, there is only one downhill, which is what killed me when Jess, Jeff, and I tried it last year. I think I will go for it.... and see if Anne, who skied from the Ice shelf to the Pole with AWE in '93, has any advice for me before I go! (Sorry I can't find a better link than that at the moment. Anne's not Ann Bancroft.)
My ride didn't leave until 10.30a, so I had time to pay a visit to the Crary Lab computer techs who set up the wireless on my laptop for the lab and are in the process of fixing my big data external hard drive. Whew! On the way out to LDB, Phil then regaled me with ballooning adventures, including the glint that caught the copilots eye when they circled the BLAST payload last year....
A parachute cushions the payload's descent after it gets cut loose from the balloon, and a charge then detaches the 'chute from the payload when it touches down. Except the BLAST one didn't, so the wind played drag-the-payload into a crevasse field, which is just too dangerous to enter, even for science. So they circled and circled the main section of instrument, trying to see if the data drive was still on it or in the faint trail of debris heading back in the direction it came from. Eventually, they determined it wasn't and the copilot mentioned the glint. After more circling, photo-taking and -enhancing, they figured the ~foot x 4 in x 4 in white box on the white snow was, in fact, their data. So the CSBF (balloon) guys made a huge plan involving landing some 30 mi away, skiing in and then out again, passed it by NSF, and then BLAST got lucky one more time. The pilot was able to land just 3 mi away, and they retrieved the box. Of course, the hard drives were damaged (this continent seems to like eating computers :), but they were smart enough to have professionals extract the info. Science = success!
Hopefully we won't have such adventures!
To work...
14 November 2007
today's theme: White
Antarctica is a Vast place. The sky is open like the plains of Montana, where you can see hundreds of miles to Mt Ranier floating in the distance; the land seems to stretch on forever before bucking up into mountains, which, even from this distance, attempt to make the Rockies look gentle. And into all this vastness, on a clear day the sun pours down, glinting off snow, ice, and glacier, and the eye is attracted to the few dark, exposed rock spots. Just a few miles away from McMurdo, C-17 airplanes which sat ferociously bulky on the runway in Christchurch look like toys on the Ice runway. A single person standing outside cannot fail but to appreciate their own insignificance in comparison to all this.
The clouds began rolling in yesterday, erasing the brilliant blue with a dull grey-white and leaving the world almost dim enough to do with sunglasses on short jaunts out.
A few of the Transantarctic Mountains still poked their peaks through the blanket beginning to blur out their sisters and brothers; the camera has trouble with the flat whiteness of the scene. Today the clouds have completely consumed the distant peaks, and many of the closer ones as well: Terra Nova, Mt Terror, and Mount Erebus, in the volcanic island chain just a few miles away in the sea ice, come and go. And the person standing outside begins to be amazed that one can feel claustrophobic in such a huge place. The sky closes in, and the landscape washes to nothing but shades of white.
This evening, after yoga and a dinner of cereal, Amy and I noticed a bit of sun pushing through the clouds on the horizon. The snow glowed a warm gold and the sea ice shone like a polished flat sheet. We watched until the cold began to bite too deeply. I have retreated to the Crary Science Library which has a wall of wide windows overlooking the frozen sea where I can just make out sunbeams continuing to highlight bits of the landscape.
The clouds began rolling in yesterday, erasing the brilliant blue with a dull grey-white and leaving the world almost dim enough to do with sunglasses on short jaunts out.
A few of the Transantarctic Mountains still poked their peaks through the blanket beginning to blur out their sisters and brothers; the camera has trouble with the flat whiteness of the scene. Today the clouds have completely consumed the distant peaks, and many of the closer ones as well: Terra Nova, Mt Terror, and Mount Erebus, in the volcanic island chain just a few miles away in the sea ice, come and go. And the person standing outside begins to be amazed that one can feel claustrophobic in such a huge place. The sky closes in, and the landscape washes to nothing but shades of white....
This evening, after yoga and a dinner of cereal, Amy and I noticed a bit of sun pushing through the clouds on the horizon. The snow glowed a warm gold and the sea ice shone like a polished flat sheet. We watched until the cold began to bite too deeply. I have retreated to the Crary Science Library which has a wall of wide windows overlooking the frozen sea where I can just make out sunbeams continuing to highlight bits of the landscape.
11 November 2007
the obligatory Weather post.
Weather today is relatively warm, although not above freezing. You can check out the current weather forecast here (make sure you flip through the pages at the top!) or detailed current scientific observations here. Spit is still freezing after impact. As to that temperature, this was an interesting and amusing link; Janice VanCleave had some interesting observations; and one more from an extreme weather book. Perhaps my grandpa would know... it gets a bit cold in North Dakota too!
I do think I'll wear my new Icebreaker long underwear tomorrow though!
I do think I'll wear my new Icebreaker long underwear tomorrow though!
ice, Ice, baby!
I am now on the southernmost continent in the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica)
McMurdo is on the Ross Ice Shelf, and you can see why we flew from Christchurch, New Zealand. Scott base is the Kiwi station. (keep clicking on the map!)
...Welcome to my information Overload!...
The flight yesterday was a short 5.5hrs: 3p - 8.30p, local time (New Zealand time), and included ear plugs, reading, and much picture-taking out of the tiny port windows. I also had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit, where the co-pilot pointed out the antarctic mountains rising up on the horizon. When even the pilot pulled out a lovely SLR for a few pics himself, I felt better about all my photo-snapping. There were only ~30 of us on the flight, seated along the walls of the C-17. In the middle sat a helicopter in red and white from NZ, bookended by heaps of cargo (in pallets).
Thorsten met me as we debarked from Ivan the Terrabus; he'd seen the plane come in as he returned from Scott's hut. After my debriefings we met for hot chocolate (tasty & only $1!) and then got some cereal from the galley (tea, coffee, and cereal are available after hours) before I headed up to the mail room to get my gear and catch some z's. He and the Swedes (I ran into them too), flew out to the pole this morning to make more holes in the Ice for IceCube. As I probably won't make it to the pole and they leave at the end of the season (late Feb), I probably won't see them again. But it sure was nice to have experience folks around!
The first part of today has been spent waiting for our cargo to arrive. Almost all of it has been waiting for us in McMurdo, but the heavy lifting equipment for delivery was co-opted by the arrival of another flight this morning. So we've been arranging furniture, hooking up to the internet, and chatting. Jin-A and I've met a couple of the GA's now (General Assistants), one working with the sheet metal guys and one in plumbing. Apparently all the insulators quit this year because they can make more in the states, so that's what those guys are up to that the moment. Rob, the sheet metal guy, is a Yaley and asked some great questions about our project. Happily, he also mentioned ultimate -- games Sunday at noon in the gym (basketball/indoor style). Oh, yeah. :)
The plus to working out at Willy field is that it's small and personal, with better food (although I haven't actually eaten in the main dining hall at McMurdo yet and if the cargo takes long enough, I might not tonight either!). The drawback at the moment is that while the main airstrip is still out on the sea ice, we only have one regularly scheduled bus-ride a day: out at 7.30a, back at 5.30p. I am still not a morning person... but hopefully the continuous sunlight will help with that!
The other plus is the beauty of the place. McMurdo proper is a bunch of metal buildings painted in varying shades of yellow and brown and dull green on a snow-and-dirt hillside. Willy field has a full snow cover, 6 buildings, counting the canvas galley, and beautiful 360 degree views on clear, sunny days like today. The Ross Islands proper, including the smoking Mt Erebus, arc towards the shore, followed by Castle Rock, Observatory hill (a clear extinct volcano crater), the very distant Transantarctic Mountains (my favorite so far), White and Black Islands (snowy and not), and more I need to learn!
Incidentally, this makes 5 continents I've visited. Your treat for reading this whole darn thing: can you guess which?
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctica)McMurdo is on the Ross Ice Shelf, and you can see why we flew from Christchurch, New Zealand. Scott base is the Kiwi station. (keep clicking on the map!)
...Welcome to my information Overload!...
The flight yesterday was a short 5.5hrs: 3p - 8.30p, local time (New Zealand time), and included ear plugs, reading, and much picture-taking out of the tiny port windows. I also had the opportunity to go up to the cockpit, where the co-pilot pointed out the antarctic mountains rising up on the horizon. When even the pilot pulled out a lovely SLR for a few pics himself, I felt better about all my photo-snapping. There were only ~30 of us on the flight, seated along the walls of the C-17. In the middle sat a helicopter in red and white from NZ, bookended by heaps of cargo (in pallets).
Thorsten met me as we debarked from Ivan the Terrabus; he'd seen the plane come in as he returned from Scott's hut. After my debriefings we met for hot chocolate (tasty & only $1!) and then got some cereal from the galley (tea, coffee, and cereal are available after hours) before I headed up to the mail room to get my gear and catch some z's. He and the Swedes (I ran into them too), flew out to the pole this morning to make more holes in the Ice for IceCube. As I probably won't make it to the pole and they leave at the end of the season (late Feb), I probably won't see them again. But it sure was nice to have experience folks around!
The first part of today has been spent waiting for our cargo to arrive. Almost all of it has been waiting for us in McMurdo, but the heavy lifting equipment for delivery was co-opted by the arrival of another flight this morning. So we've been arranging furniture, hooking up to the internet, and chatting. Jin-A and I've met a couple of the GA's now (General Assistants), one working with the sheet metal guys and one in plumbing. Apparently all the insulators quit this year because they can make more in the states, so that's what those guys are up to that the moment. Rob, the sheet metal guy, is a Yaley and asked some great questions about our project. Happily, he also mentioned ultimate -- games Sunday at noon in the gym (basketball/indoor style). Oh, yeah. :)
The plus to working out at Willy field is that it's small and personal, with better food (although I haven't actually eaten in the main dining hall at McMurdo yet and if the cargo takes long enough, I might not tonight either!). The drawback at the moment is that while the main airstrip is still out on the sea ice, we only have one regularly scheduled bus-ride a day: out at 7.30a, back at 5.30p. I am still not a morning person... but hopefully the continuous sunlight will help with that!
The other plus is the beauty of the place. McMurdo proper is a bunch of metal buildings painted in varying shades of yellow and brown and dull green on a snow-and-dirt hillside. Willy field has a full snow cover, 6 buildings, counting the canvas galley, and beautiful 360 degree views on clear, sunny days like today. The Ross Islands proper, including the smoking Mt Erebus, arc towards the shore, followed by Castle Rock, Observatory hill (a clear extinct volcano crater), the very distant Transantarctic Mountains (my favorite so far), White and Black Islands (snowy and not), and more I need to learn!
Incidentally, this makes 5 continents I've visited. Your treat for reading this whole darn thing: can you guess which?
10 November 2007
sleepy day
The guys left this morning and I enjoyed a solid sleep in as the rains came down.
By 3p, we learned they'd finished circling McMurdo, landed, and we'd be going out on a 3p flight Sunday. I am delighted it won't be a 6a flight with a 3a check-in!
Jin-A and I wandered around Christchurch as the clouds broke and had our last tasty dinner of fresh fish from Dux de Lux. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to transfer my pics from the camera to computer for your viewing before too long.
On to packing, and the next post should be from the Ice!
By 3p, we learned they'd finished circling McMurdo, landed, and we'd be going out on a 3p flight Sunday. I am delighted it won't be a 6a flight with a 3a check-in!
Jin-A and I wandered around Christchurch as the clouds broke and had our last tasty dinner of fresh fish from Dux de Lux. Hopefully I will be able to find a way to transfer my pics from the camera to computer for your viewing before too long.
On to packing, and the next post should be from the Ice!
09 November 2007
a Beginning
Things I've done so far:
30 Oct: packed up my gear & my house stuff for Lisa moving in and me moving out.
31 Oct - 2 Nov: flown to Auckland. In a seat ahead of me sat Thorsten, an engineer bound for the South Pole again with lots of helpful advice for me. He predicts he'll see me in Chch, though he's scheduled to fly out before I arrive Monday night.
2-4 Nov: driven down with Kate the fabulous and played awesomely in Taupo Hat tourney.
5 Nov: flown to Christchurch and practiced a bit of ulti. Not too many folks left I knew, but enough. Discovered Thorsten: no flights out to the Ice since Sunday.
6 Nov: errands! Mailed box to Mom. Dinner with Thorsten and some other South Pole workers, including some Swedish drillers. And radler!
7 Nov: biked Chch with Spencer and his mom, saw the Riccarton Bush and beautiful, exotic Monavale. Lunched at the Sacred Heart veggie cafe, then down to Akaroa. Walked about and had stunning views from both the drive and the harbor.
8 Nov: got my ECW (extreme cold weather) gear from the CDC (clothing distribution center). Never imagined I'd be a small parka (reduced girth). Am totally stoked to have a pair of snow pants (4th time was the charm!)... my first since I was 6 or so! Pretty good practice afterward. Fish'n'chops. That's fried fish and chips = fries, kiwi style. Umm.
9 Nov: Akaroa with the Swedes: more stunning vistas, lighthouse and dead-people (cemetary) viewing; dirt cliff- (Anders) and tree-climbing (Jimmi) with action shots (Frederik); Swedish lessons; climb up to Heratige Park with all of Akaroa at our feet. More yummy Indian with Thorsten, Tom & Tom, and the Swedes.
And flights still haven't left. Pretty much everyone but my group is now on the passenger manifest for tomorrow. But perhaps we'll be able to rent a van instead and wander around the Banks Penninsula crater rim instead.
Over and out.
-T:)
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