Bye for now

My season is wrapping up.  I will be leaving here in a few days.  There is something here that keeps drawing me back year after year.  The fun people, the work, the lifestyle, the beautiful place, all makes it an amazing experience.
I will be traveling for a short time in New Zealand and am looking forward to seeing flowers, grass, dogs, and all the things that are missing down here.  I miss my family and friends while I am here, so look forward to going home.  However, it seems like only a matter of time before I am dreaming about Antarctica again.

Only a short five months ago, this place was covered
with several feet of snow and ice

Now the open water stretches almost the entire way
to the mountains

Beautiful colors after the Emperor Penguins molt

 

McMurdoisms

McMurdo is a place for creativity.  That means there are some funny signs and things that are only known in McMurdo. 
For example:
Freshies-Fresh vegetables and fruit.  It doesn't come very often so it is really nice to get them.
PQ-Physical Qualification which we all must do before we come down here.
Beakers-The scientists that come here
Big Red-The big red parka they issue you when you come down here.
Food Monkeys-Food warehouse workers. They climb up crates of food to get things.  It is treacherous.
Hwy 1-The hallway through the main building.

There are many sayings and quirky things about this place that give it character.



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Diving Patch

I don't know what the point of this is.  Dating chances?

Only conditioner.  We never got shampoo this whole season.

Remember the recycle bins?

The carpentry shop's cafe

Mr Penguin at the hospital

Food Monkey

USS Overkill

Things to do in McMurdo

Although McMurdo doesn't have all of the conveniences of home or even small town life, it does have character.  There are a few things here to keep you busy while you aren't working.  There are hiking trails, though not a lot, and they are unsafe if you leave the trail.  Wildlife viewing is popular and word gets out quickly when there is wildlife in the area.  The town has two bars and a coffeehouse so often we spent time with friends chatting and playing games.  There is a library and the store "rents" videos.  They are free but you can only get three at a time, loosely enforced.  Recreation is an entire department and they host classes by the volunteers in the community, of yoga, dance, movie, crafting, etc.  They also rent skis and bicycles.  There is a gym here and a small aerobics gym.  When the weather is really cold it seems that people get together and play games or watch movies, then as soon as the weather is good they go out and hike or ski. 

Wildlife viewing is always fun

The bar is a fun place

Wildlife viewing when the ice melts

The trail system marks the hiking trails

One of the longest hikes around McMurdo

There are bikes around station to ride

The McMurdo Marathon

Library

You can rent skis

The "theatre inside the coffee house



The coffee house



Discovery Hut

I am doing another post on the Discovery Hut, often called Scott's Hut,  because I was able to go inside.  I have great admiration for the explorers of Antarctica and the hardships they endured while exploring.  Robert F. Scott built the Discovery Hut at hut point which is 300m from McMurdo.  It was poorly designed and not well insulated so the first explorers actually chose to live on the icebound ship instead of the hut.  This hut was built in 1901 and used by Scott and Shackleton for almost 15 years.  It has been well preserved due to the cold dry climate.  This hut was used mostly for storage and people lived there for short periods of time, so several items are still in the hut.  It smells rancid from the seal blubber.  Scott's party died from cold weather and starvation only 11 miles from their return base on the return leg from the south pole. 

Discovery Hut

Seal blubber

Vince's cross near the hut.

Discovery Hut

Food stored in the hut

Frying pans

Clothes used during the expeditions

Fur mittens and socks

Food for the dogs

Scott Base

Just over the hill from us, a mere mile away is the New Zealand base, Scott Base.  It is a small base that only has about 85 people during the busiest times.  This base relies heavily on McMurdo to transport all of their cargo and passengers.  We work closely with them and they often come over to our base to use the gym, eat, go to the bars, etc.  We are only allowed to go to Scott Base on Thursday evenings, but they can come over here anytime because there are so few of them.  The US Antarctic Program is based in Christchurch also, and we work with them as well. 

The base itself is green and it is one several small buildings connected by hallways so you never have to go out in the cold.  They are farther from the sea ice edge than McMurdo, and have pressure ridges where the seals live.

The New Zealanders, or Kiwis, are really friendly and helpful.  They are a big part of our community and often come over to compete in the races and spend time in our bars, so we get to know them really well.  They also come down to help unload our resupply container ship.

Scott Base

Scott Base with the Royal Society
Mountains in the background.

Happy Camper

Anyone here who is going out to a field camp has to go to snow survival school before they leave McMurdo. It is referred to as "Happy Camper School" and I went my first year down here.  There is a short classroom portion and then you head out to the open snow to learn how to operate the stoves, set up a tent, build a snow wall, and set up communications.  It is very difficult to set up a tent on the ice and snow, especially in the wind, so learning things such as this are valuable to working here.   Once all of the campers head out to the snow field, they begin setting up their tents and building the snow wall to stop the wind with the snow wall.  They teach you how to build a snow hut by piling up the bags and piling snow on top.  They camp out over night and have a bit of fun with building other snow sculptures.  The next day the campers put a bucket on their heads to simulate a white out condition and you have only a rope and must find a "lost" teammate.  The weather here can change quickly and harsh conditions can make it really dangerous.  Many scientists and field crews live out in tents for several months at a time. 



Buckets on their heads to simulate white-out
conditions. 



There are some great faces drawn on the "bucket heads". 

The camp site out on the ice shelf.  Not everyone has
a nice sunny day like these folks.

Mt Erebus

Mt Erebus is our resident volcano.  It is the southernmost active volcano on the planet.  It is unique because it constantly puffs steam from the lava lake deep in the crater, but doesn't build up pressure due to the open caldera. Comforting thoughts since we are a mere 22 miles away at McMurdo.  Several science groups are here studying it.  It is the second highest volcano in Antarctica at 12,448 ft. 

Erebus is a mere 22 miles from McMurdo Station.

Aerial view of the caldera with the open caldera.

Mt Erebus-Named after the Greek God of Darkness,
primordial son of Chaos.

Mt Erebus puffs steam constantly