It's been a fantastic week here at McMurdo Station-- the weather has actually kept us from flying as much as we would like, but I was able to get out for my first couple of flights! It's the time of year to get all of the field camps flown in and set up so it's helpful if the weather is clear and fine for aviation.

We are all getting ready for the Halloween party tonight and enjoyed the Haunted House coordinated and set up in the Waste Barn last night... There's a wonderful and warm Coffee House here that I was able to visit for the first time this week when several very gifted musicians gathered for a Bluegrass pickin' session. They played for a couple of hours and appreciating listeners walked in and sat down to tap their toes and enjoy the tunes. It's strange to walk out at 10:30pm to full daylight!

I have yet to download the photos but will get a few more posted soon...

Today is a blustery, cold and windy day with little visibility and so we are not flying again... that leaves time for catching up and projects. (This photo is actually from Sea Ice Training, not from today)

I am already amazed at the workload here and how much they fly-- every day there seems to be a full schedule with thousands of pounds of cargo moved and several different groups of researchers, communication technicians, carpenters, scientists and others flying out or returning from the field. I have been learning to operate a small fork lift called a Pickle and to rig a variety of strange cargo loads while trying to learn many new names of places and faces. Next week I should be assigned to a helicopter and then I will have the chance to fly!

I am also surprised at the variety of social and recreational opportunities available: ceramics, knitting, a craft room, a band room, instruments to sign out, jewelry making, volleyball, soccer, basketball, dodgeball, boot camp and yoga along with 2 bars and a coffee shop. There is a house here called Hut 10 where people can sign up for an evening and host a gathering-- we all live in dorm rooms with 1-3 other people so to have a house to hang out in is a luxury! This photo is looking across at McMurdo-- the 4 dark buildings are dorms and mine is second from the left.

My banjo-pickin' roommate quickly found a few folks to play with and I have really enjoyed hanging out and listening while they practice catchy toe-tappin' bluegrass tunes. Tonight there are 5 different bands playing at the local bar so I look forward to hearing live music and getting out for our 1 night off this week.

Hope all is well back home...

ali

It’s been a week since arrival here in McMurdo and I think it’s time to get caught up!

We stepped off the plane at Pegasus airfield and, after taking a glance back through the cold wind at the C-17 we flew in on, were shuttled to McMurdo in Hagglunds (large tracked vehicles that disperse weight for transporting people and gear) and vans outfitted with lift kits and burly tires. Once at McMurdo all passengers were directed to the Galley (dining room/cafeteria) where we sat for introductions and a briefing on daily operations: what day the science lectures are, what time the store is open, where to check

 for mail, what to do if in Condition 1 weather, and to wash your hands often so we d

on’t all catch the crud.

All new kids get to go to Happy Camper for 2 days and a night for an introduction to the weather and survival gear that is required for ANY travel away from the base. They covered communications and radio use, weather conditions, how to keep a Whisperlight stove going in the cold, to melt 

snow for water, start a search in white out conditions, build a snow cave and set up a Scott tent. It was -28 the night that we stayed out -brrrr!- and I slept with 2 others in a super cozy Quinze hut (snow cave).

The next day started with Environmental Training, or Waste Management. Doesn’t sound like much but its serious business here! There is an honest attempt at recycling everything possible and all trash is thoroughly sorted in work and housing areas. EVERY time you are encountering a rubbish situation you need to decide in which bin to place that item and then it is all shipped back to the states. Many work groups are doing research out in the Dry Valleys where there are Antarctic Special Protection Areas (ASPA) that require taking out all (and I mean ALL) that you bring in. There are certain requirements for hazardous materials, suggestions for low impact travel, and everyone carries a Pee Bottle—yep, just the way it sounds.

Next was sea ice training that included climbing into a Hagglund again and traveling out onto the ice of McMurdo Sound. We were taught (or at least given an introduction) to read ice and drill ice cores to create a crack profile before driving vehicles over them. There were ice burgs frozen into the sea ice, a seal in the distance (my first glimpse at wildlife!), the Royal Society mountain range across the way, and miles and miles and miles of white reflecting the sun of long days.

After a few days (of what felt like a learning vacation) I started work! There are 2 A-Star and 2 Bell 212 helicopters use to move lots and lots of cargo and many passengers and we spend our days between the hangar, the pads, the passenger terminal, and cargo areas. Several of the helotechs and pilots have been here for years (4 to 12) so the knowledge and experience is impressive and appreciated. The work is similar to what we do at home but different enough that it may take a bit to figure it out…

The folks we are flying are traveling in and out of these remote camps and work stations for research on seals, penguins, climate and weather, geology… and we help with logistical needs to keep them supplied and warm. Tonight they are flying 2 men from the BBC around with a very expensive camera with a carbon fiber body so they can film for the Plant Earth series. Cool, huh?

Fortunately there are Science talks scheduled for Wednesday and Sunday evenings that allow the chance to hear about the studies that are being done and learn more about what they are finding. This week we heard about the core samples being collected from under McMurdo Sound that will hopefully connect the time period (30-40,000 years ago) when Antarctica was forested to when it became ice (or something like that). Afterwards we walked downstairs in the Crary Lab to where they store the holding tanks for marine life collected on dives (yea, they dive here!) and I got to hold a sea spider. 

All in all it’s been a good week!

Remember that part about leaving last night and waking in Antarctica? There was a little change in plans...

We arrived at the CDC (Clothing Distribution Center) 

at 10pm to get dressed, briefed, manifested and loaded onto a C-17 (HUGE airplane) for the 5 hour flight to McMurdo. It all went surprisingly smooth considering 100+ people were wearing or carrying all of their ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear along with 75 (or more...) pounds to check, plus a carry-on. Once check-in luggage was dropped of we gathered for a short, well-produced film introduction to life in Antarctica and what to expect. From there we loaded into buses for the short drive to the plane, filed up the stairs and settled into seats for the 1am departure.

A C-17 is a monster of a plane, cavernous even, with huge pallets of

 gear stacked in the rear, a few rows of oversized airline seats up front and in the back, and more seating along the side walls and down the center. It's loud, really loud. And it gets pretty warm. I sat along the wall (with ear plugs jammed deep the entire time) and read, fidgeted, squirmed, read some more, played Klondike on my iPod, took off my boots and socks and zip-t and unzipped the insulated Carhartt's for ventilation. It may be possible to sleep sitting straight up when you are practically shoulder to shoulder with folks next to you, but I have not mastered that yet and, unfortunately, they were not serving free glasses of sleep-encouraging wine as on other international flights!

At about 5:30 am, as we were starting to get dressed and pull on boots in anticipation for landing, they delivered a message something like this: "That right turn that you are feeling is the plane turning around to land New Zealand. Weather has changed suddenly and we will not be landing at McMurdo this morning." So, 4 1/2 more hours of reading, fidgeting, attempting sleep, squirming, stretching, reading a bit more, jamming in the earplugs... as we flew back to where we had departed just a few hours before.

We spent the day catching up on sleep, watching the presidential debate and getting a bit of exercise in Christchurch and will be trying again tomorrow morning! It's hard because we realize that the National Science Foundation field season is obviously rather short, budgets for science are getting cut, and people are attempting to get there and get some work done on seals, penguins, ice, meteorology... There are hundreds of people staying in hotels here waiting for their flights and every time a flight is delayed, it delays the other 5 behind it. But, I imagine everyone understands the possibilities for changes in weather and the need to remain flexible and patient. I will let you know what happens tomorrow!

Until then,

ali

Tonight is the night!

For a week now we have been waiting for weather to clear for the flight to McMurdo but the first flight of the season actually left this morning and we should be departing on the second flight between 10pm and 12 tonight.

The problem with an unexpected week in Christchurch is that you talk with people and find out what you may want there (cheese, wine, chocolate... ) and then try to find weight and create space in your already efficiently packed luggage for those items-- so my gear weighs a few pounds more now than it did a week ago! I have also learned that the meals may be worse than originally thought-- rumor has it the budget has been cut in half and that they will be cleaning out the forgotten corners of the freezer this season... this means that I am half tempted to leave behind the cold weather gear (just kidding, dad) and stock up on grocery goodies! Also, because of the delays in flights mail may not get delivered for another month or 2 so the care packages we have sent ourselves may show up around Christmastime (better late than never but I just hid another pound of chocolate in my baggage).

This past week has given us a chance to get out and explore the outskirts of Christchurch and gain a new appreciation for public transportation. Buses here are clean and on time, easy to find and cheap. One day I spent walking and walking through the town of Lyttleton about 20 minutes away and I visited my first time ball, an historic and important tool in navigation. (Wondering what that is? Check out the link on the right...) Yesterday we visited the seaside town of Sumner for an afternoon of walking steep winding coastal trails and sharing a bottle of wine and impromptu picnic on the beach.

Hopefully there will be more photos to share soon!

Getting there

The flights from Cedar City to Christchurch went through without any problems or delays at all-- amazing! I forget how absolutely pleasant those Quantas flights are and how cheery the flight attendants seem to be with their warm kiwi accents and big smiles-- such a contrast to the fast talking, "why are you inconveniencing me?" folks that we have become accustomed to.

We arrived by 9am and walked over to the Antarctic Center nearby to take a look at the gear that would be issued the next day before catching a shuttle to the hotel located at the town center. Since rooms were not quite ready yet I packed up my little backpack and camera and walked the blocks to the Botanical Gardens. It's such a time machine when you fall asleep in one hemisphere and wake in another, when you've completely skipped a day and walk off the plane into spring rather than the fall season that you left. I love it. Trees are budding and tulips are in bloom, days start cool but warm quickly and are perfect for walking and walking and walking...

I was able to meet a few of the other helotechs and we enjoyed a sushi dinner together as for several it was the last night before their flight to " The Ice". Since meals are rumored to be less than fantastic (maybe even less than mediocre) it's important to eat well while you are still here.

A day or 2 before a scheduled flight to the ice people go to the Clothing Distribution Center, or CDC, (I am only starting to learn the phenonomal number of acronyms used here) to stand and receive a short briefing on what to expect, how to pack your gear into these great carrot-orange duffle bags, try on all of the Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear and exchange until it fits well. That's what I did yesterday and you can see in the photos that there is a lot of gear to choose from! It sounds like the day of the flight starts early (4:30am) and involves getting packed and weighed and loaded into the plane headed to Antarctica. The flight that was scheduled to leave 2 days ago did not, due to weather. They tried again yesterday but after getting loaded and 4 hours into the 7 hour flight they were turned around for weather and visibility-- that's what they call a "Boomerang". Imagine waking early and getting bundled up, flying for hours just to turn around and land where you started! This morning they awoke with plans to try again but my other helotech friends were at breakfast, so I guess the weather is still no good. Since the first flight has not been able to depart and there is only one plane (budget cuts) our flight is getting pushed back day by day as well. We were to leave this morning but will not for another day or two until the weather clears-- fine with me! I really like New Zealand and Christchurch and am happy to have another day or 2 here to explore during the springtime...

I hope to get photos up soon!