destination: Big White

No kidding, there I was ...

Sitting in the galley at McMurdo on Monday morning, just after 7AM, when the cargo coordinator ran up to me; cheeks flushed and sweat matting the hair around her face.  Apparently I was supposed to fly to Byrd a few minutes previously.



I was able grab my carry-on bags [that I've been living out of for the last week] and shuttle out to the ice runway, located an hour drive on the permanent ice shelf.  The 1,300km flight in the belly of the LC-130 was uneventful with nothing interesting seen out the few windows, since the continent was covered in thick/ low clouds.

Once on the ground, we were treated to a 'combat offload' of our gear.

peak poachin'

Last night I took off on a late night 'poaching' session up through the back side of town.  My destination was Castle Rock, the highest and farthest accessible point from town.  Technically it requires two people, a radio and check-out with the fire department.  Oh and the summit is still closed due to poor snow conditions.  But I decided to solo it anyway.

The hike out was brisk, but pleasant.  No real difficulties encountered on the hard packed snow to speak of.  Fortunately the short summit route was well protected with fixed ropes and easy to surmount.  Once on top, I took shelter in the lee and soaked in Antarctica for quite some time.  It was the mental space I've been hoping to find down here; absolute quite and distances that are hard to comprehend.  The sweeping landscape makes even my deep wilderness adventures in Alaska seem tame by comparison.

View from Castle Rock at 1:30AM

 After some time, I stumbled down to the emergency shelter at the base of the outcropping and climbed into one of the sleeping bags for the best nights sleep I've had since arriving.

Urine Soaked Pants

Apparently this is such a significant issue that it requires it's own container ...

squeal like a pig

We had our in-brief today with the just arrived scientists that are heading out to PIG [above logo stolen from them].  It is an all-star cast of characters from: NASA, JPL, University of Alaska and several others that I can't remember.

The PI [primary investigator] informed us support folks that they have been down at McMurdo for the last couple years doing dry runs with their drilling gear so that they can go out this year and collect their data on the ice shelf.  I was amazed to learn that PIG is moving at a rate of 10 meters / day [over one foot per hour!] and is speculated to be 10% of current sea level rise.  As Dr Bindschadler told us today, 'This is the most exciting glacier to study on the continent, with some of the worst weather the continent has to offer.'

Awesome.

Beakers vs. Ray-bots

Since I've been here for a while now, I've been able to start 'people watching' when the busloads of new people get dropped off by Ivan at the galley.  There are only two types of people here at station: scientists and support staff.
The scientists [beakers] are easily identifiable; with their nylon cargo pants, complete with zip off legs. Most were purchased so recently that they still have a crease line in them.  They are also usually wearing brand new hiking boots with intact and unscathed leather uppers.
On the other hand, the support staff [hired by Raytheon => Ray-bots], are universally found to be wearing their standard issue insulated carhartt overalls and boots that should have been retired long ago.

Both are tremendous fun to work with and talk too.  The stories amazing, and the camaraderie here 'on the ice' especially tight.

townies

Still stuck at McMurdo.  PIG camp needs 100,000 pounds of supplies to be delivered by overland traverse, but the tracked machines are broken and awaiting parts.  So here we sit; primed, ready to go and nothing to do.  I even had to 'check' my bags earlier this week when it was thought that I would fly.  So now I'm living out of my 'carry on' for the next week.

The bright side of things is that since we have nothing to do, management is farming us out to other departments in town that need help.  I have had a fantastic time working with, and talking to, many of the folks here in town. 

Yesterday I got to hang out at the BFC [yes, that Building Full of Chicks] and talk to one of the women that works there.  Last year she spent 5 months bicycling through Patagonia & Chile in her time off from Antarctica. 

The day before we were tasked with helping sort trash at the Waste Barn.  Every day, every single piece of trash is sorted by hand here at McMurdo.  It was a fun little side adventure, and I enjoyed talking with the supervisor who decided to come down here and sort trash after her stint as an AmericCorps volunteer.

blubber lovin

Yesterday [since I DIDN'T fly to Byrd]  I took the shuttle over to the New Zealand base, then walked back on the ice.  It was a lovely 3 mile walk along a well marked trail.  Along the way, I ran into several of the local seals that were traveling across the sea ice.  They 'maintain' their air holes by biting away at the edges.
Usually they don't move very much or often [hard to tell if they are dead or not], but one was making pretty good progress across the ice and I was able to get the below video.  It was much closer and more exciting than the video lets on though.