It's another foggy day with no visibility for flying and so we sit and wait for the weather to clear. Imagine a 35 minute flight across the sea ice (flat and white) and how without a horizon line or ground definition it could be easy to become disoriented or lose vertical reference with the ground. So I will take a minute to tell about our flight on Thursday...

Thursday morning I was the lucky helotech assigned to assist in escorting Prince Albert II of Monaco around on his tour of Ross Island and the Dry Valleys. He traveled with his friendly entourage of 3 as we first visited Lake Hoare Camp nestled behind the Canada Glacier where he spoke with Dr. Fountain about the glacier studies there. Lk Hoare's camp manager and assistant have been returning for many years and are very helpful in loading and unloading cargo and passengers when we land but rarely do we shut down or see their home. Inside the one room hut is a kitchen with a large table filling most of the room, bunk beds for the unexpected guest, and a large pot for melting snow on the stove. Hanging from the ceiling are fine wire sculptures of fish, birds, a helicopter and a butterfly presumably twisted together by the visitors who have dined at their table. A watercolor given by artist Alan Campbell hangs behind glass protecting the message scrawled below the peak.

From there we took an aerial tour of the Dry Valleys, the Labyrinth, Upper Wright Valley ice falls, and stopped at Bull Pass to walk through the ventifacts sculpted by the wind over time. Then we were off to Marble Point, our primary fuel stop on the far side of McMurdo Sound, where Karen was there with another wonderful lunch of fresh bread and a selection of cheeses, soups, hummus, crisp apple slices, and herbal tea prepared in their warm, homey kitchen.
After lunch we returned across the Sound to Cape Royds where Shackleton's Hut sits facing a large colony of Adelie Penguins. They could be heard from a distance and as we approached we could see the fuzzy charcoal grey penguin chicks standing nearly as tall as the adults, some still warming and protecting their eggs. Open water surrounds the Cape so we were able to see them swimming, hopping up onto the ice, waddling to and from the rookery.

We entered the hut and stood in the place where those early explorers did-- socks still hanging on the drying line, bed rolls ready for rest, provisions stacked and neatly organized on shelves fashioned from packing crates stenciled with 'British Antarctic Expedition 1907'. Outside there are several dog houses, tools hanging on weathered wood, and a small heap of rusted trash and broken glass- an archeologist's dream.


Scott's Hut at Cape Evans was the next stop but it is currently under restoration and behind sheets of plastic as the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Fund cleans and replaces what is structurally falling apart. Still, to see the skis that they used, the snowshoes used by the horses and their names painted on the stable walls is an amazing thing. The view of the open water and Barnes Glacier, thoughts of what they must have encountered...

All the while Prince Albert II was kind, interested and funny while they were gathering information about the area, interviewing a few scientists, and getting another glimpse of the Antarctica that they are protecting with the signing of Monaco to the Antarctic Treaty.

We are just a few weeks away from departure with a lot of work to complete between now and then. Travel plans are beginning to be finalized and folks are questioning whether they'll return for another season, only time will tell!

Missing you,

ali

Less than a month left and we are staying busy with flights in and out and around as we continue to move science groups and all of their equipment as necessary. Weather has changed some in the past week and flights are cancelled or delayed as visibility decreases due to snow, fog or clouds moving over the Sound. Flexibility is the key!

Different groups are testing biochemistry in the lakes where glacial melt has pooled, collecting stream measurements as the run off changes over the summer, or changing moisture and temperature to study the effects on nematodes in the soil. As we fly the 30-40 minutes to most locations I usually ask where they are from (universities all over the US, Canada, England), what they are doing and how many years they've been returning. There are interesting folks from all over and everyone has a story to share.

We also spent time at Lake Bonney moving a camp that had been there for the summer. Carpenters from the Carp Shop come out and disassamble everything and rig it all for flying external loads-- that day I hooked 13 loads off the ice to the belly of the 212. It was a gorgeous warm day brilliant with sunshine.

Yesterday we were held up due to weather at Marble Point, our primary fuel stop on the other side of the Sound and a safe place for us to stay when conditions change. Several times each week we stop for fuel and, if we are lucky, schedule a short lunch break. Karen and Crunch are the hosts at MP and there is usually a cup of tea or pot of coffee, a bowl of home made soup and fresh baked bread and cookies along with reminders of home in the form of music, kitchen smells and friendly conversation.

Once we were cleared to fly we started to move people around to their field locations for the day but our schedule was interrupted again when the aircraft had a 'compression stall' and we were forced to shut down at Blood Falls for a few hours until the mechanic could fly out and correct the problem. It is rare that we are able to shut down and explore the lakes and valleys, to take a closer look at the places we fly over so frequently-- I was pleased with our delay! Snow was fresh over the peaks and wispy clouds were slowly moving through, playing with the sunlight and creating beautiful dramatic scenes.




Last week we flew along the crater of Mt Erebus, an active volcano here on Ross Island. From there we could see open water, one of my new favorite views. Two days ago the icebreaker named the Oden made it to the pier at McMurdo and now continues to widen the channel between here and the sea ice edge, preparing the way for the vessel that comes stocked with goods and food for the coming season. We have seen the ice change over the past 3 months but are still waiting for winds to push it out to sea, until that happens we will likely not see the whales and penguins that normally make their way here.

Just a quick update as we wait to fly!
ali

Happy New Year!

The holidays have come and gone and I find it hard to believe that my time here has flown by so quickly. I was told that it would but I hushed that friend and said, “Let me take my time getting from now to February.” Is it because it’s natural for time to fly when days are not separated from one another by even a few hours of darkness, that there is one long day from late October to mid-February? Working 6 days each week leaves one short day for friends, play, rest and laundry so even the weeks blend almost seamlessly from one to the other.

We were given 2 days off for Christmas- Thursday, December 25th and then Sunday, our regular day off. Christmas Eve we enjoyed the company of a few friends for a mellow night of drinks and music in our room. Holley, Danny and Chris played and picked guitars, mandolin and banjo. Christmas Day started with sleeping in, then a simple breakfast and a long run before heading to the Galley for dinner with our co-workers from PHI. Women from the BFC (Berg Field Center) hosted another more intimate gathering in their space with gauzy window coverings letting us pretend it was dusk, strings of little white lights draped from the ceiling, cushions on the floor inviting games and laughter, tables for tea and conversation.

It’s simple here. Folks from the community volunteered for parts in the Charlie Brown Christmas play performed in the Chapel of the Snow. People in the waste department (Wasties) joined the carpenters (Carps) to organize an acoustic music night complete with multiple artists, a living room stage and many couches for seating, Christmas cookies and a warm place to spend a long night with friends. The evening ended with the Zim Brother’s Christmas Show where 3 got on stage to sing Christmas carols with the lyrics changed to reflect humorous life here at McMurdo Station.

Last night, New Years Eve, most people went to IceStock, a music event from 6:30 to 12:30 again with many folks volunteering to make it all come together. The weather was cool and windy but the stage was sheltered and Sawbucks coffee shack was set up by the Carpenters to serve hot coffee and cocoa. Kiwi’s brought out the grill to offer Brats, Wasties created 12-foot tall costumes of a Skua bird, a butterfly and a Dr.Seuss looking creature to walk through the crowd and music played for hours. Holley and here bands were a hit once again as her clear and beautiful voice lifted over the wind and carried out to the audience. People first moved forward to dance when they played a slightly rocked up version Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash and from then on there were hula-hoops and dancers.

While our work schedule was been lighter lately, we are starting to feel the buildup of longer hours and more flights as science groups once again move in and out of their field camps. Our flights off the ice back to Christchurch are already getting tentatively scheduled for early February and talk has turned to travel plans and summer back home…

I hope that you had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! Thank you to all who have written to keep me company and thinking of home.

ali

There is a research group that has been studying the dive physiology of Emperor Penguins the past several years so they wrangle a few from Beaufort Island in the early season to place in the Penguin Ranch for observation. Penguin Ranch has a hole drilled in the ice where the penguins can dive and another hole nearby with a tube extending down through the ice with a ladder where people can climb down to where observations can be made through a window. The small area is surrounded by a corral that encloses the penguins and keeps them from wandering. During this time there are cameras and other sensitive equipment mounted on their backs for data collection.

When the research season is over the penguins are returned to their home out near Beaufort Island, this is the flight I was able to go on last week.

We stopped at the Penguin Ranch to pick up the 5 Emperor Penguins standing in the orange wooden boxes built for their transport in the helicopter. There is a hinged window that opens in the top and a door that swings open in the front. The floor gets covered with snow to keep the guano (poo) from getting too messy and stinking up the helicopter. (Guess who gets to clean that up!) We loaded the boxes and took off for Beaufort Island, another 30-minute flight from the Ranch. After landing and shutting down we unloaded the penguin boxes and waited as the doors on each were opened one by one.

During the flight over we spoke with the researchers who shared with us that penguins do have personality, that some are more active than others or carry a bit more attitude. This was apparent in their exit style when released. The first dove out the door onto his belly and pushed and slid 40-feet away before standing and walking toward the open water, looking back with suspicion. The next stepped out nonchalant and slowly made his way to his friend, head up and swaggering away. After the 5 were released we stood out on that sea ice on that clear calm night and appreciated the silence as they sauntered into the distance.


Surprisingly, an Adelie penguin approached us with curiousity from the other side. He stood a distance away for several minutes before walking and using the belly slide move to move across the ice to his destination.


From there we loaded up and flew past ice bergs frozen in the sea ice jutting up hundreds of feet, past Mount Erebus puffing up to the west, and past the high never-setting sun of the Antarctic summer.

What a night!

Just wanted to get a few photos out...

Another week has flown by and we are finishing up this Saturday afternoon and getting ready for another long-awaited day off. The weather is fine with sunshine and warmer temperatures that allow lighter layers and easier movement.

Tonight a local funk band is playing and we are ready to dance!

Hope all is well wherever you are...

ali
Above it a photo of flying over the Ferrar Glacier. I love that you can see the subtle slow motion of this river of ice.

These are ice falls that are scattered all through the valleys. Gorgeous.

Here is another view of one of Scott's huts with a glacier in the background.