Resupply Ship

Grooming and building the ice pier.  It is the square
in the right hand side.

The dirt layer is added to ice pier when it has reached
the desired thicknes and is strong.

They continue to work on the pier.  Here they
are beginning to build the bridge.

The season is winding down and the station will be closed for the winter on March 5th.  We are now preparing for the resupply container ship which brings supplies for the next season.  They load the ship in Port Hueneme, CA and set sail for Antarctica.  It takes almost a month to get here.  The ice breaker must come in and break out a channel in the ice for the ship to come in to McMurdo sound.  The ice breaker should be here within the next weekend to begin working on opening the channel.  It also opens up the sea ice for whales and other wildlife to come in. First a fuel tanker will come here and bring us fuel.  Then the Nathanial B. Palmer will come, which is a research ship that has been doing multiple science experiments out in the ocean.  The resupply ship will be the last to come and will stay almost a week.  This becomes a very busy time around station, there are extra people down here to unload and load the boat, they are working 24 hours per day, 12 hour shifts, without days off until it is complete.  The bars are closed and no alcohol is sold during this time either.  The ship is supposed to arrive on Feb 14th this year.  The ships docks at the ice pier which they have been working on all season.  They compact an area of ice in the sound and put iron bars in it and continue to groom it so it can be used to drive trucks up to the ship and unload the containers onto.  It is a huge strong ice cube with a bridge to drive on and the ship docks beside it.

The resupply container ship in port.



The icebreaker.  It shoots hot water down as it
rams the sea ice to break it up.



The fuel tanker in port refueling the station.

The resupply ship approaching the ice pier.

The icebreaker opens up the water for lots of wildlife.

The water starts to refreeze.

The resupply vessel leaving accompanied by the icebreaker.

Antarctic Recycling

The people in Antarctica recycle like no one's business.  Everything that comes into Antarctica is either consumed or shipped back out as trash.  It is not buried or burned here.  We are supposed to leave the smallest possible footprint.  This is what makes Antarctica the pristine beautiful place that it is.  Each person sorts their trash into bins, such as glass, aluminum cans, food waste, paper, etc.  There is also a "thrift store" called Skua central where people can take things that are in good shape but no longer wanted.  Everything there is free, and it is mostly things like clothing and shoes, room decorations and books.  Every bit of trash is loaded on the resupply boat and shipped off the continent to be recycled so everything is sorted.

Stuff that is no longer used by work centers here
can be taken by other departments.

Bins to sort our trash into.

These are bigger bins for sorting our trash, they
are outside the work centers.



Triwall containers full of waste.  Yep, lots of trash here!



Entrance to Skua Central, the "thrift store".



This is the snowman blanket I found in skua.  It
is really soft!



They have fun with labeling some of the waste containers.

Cold Critters

Skua sitting on her nest

The animals that live here never cease to amaze me.  It is so cold and often doesn't warm up for days.  The skua birds lay their eggs in nests of rocks.  They leave the nest for a short amount of time and leave the poor little chick out in the cold.  The penguins do the same thing.  They only huddle up together when it gets really cold.  I see them sitting out in the wind and snow blowing all around them. 

Emperor penguins keep their eggs warm on
their feet.

Adelie colony nesting on the rocks.

Seals laying out on the ice. 

What am I doing here?

C-17 Landing at the runway

Most of my posts so far have been about the parties, the penguins, my room and the other things here.  So what do I do most of the day?  Well, I work in the cargo department.  It is one of the largest departments here.  We get small items that the scientists or field camp people need, and build them up on a large metal pallet that then is loaded onto the airplane.  We fly C-130s to the field camps and other stations, like the South Pole.  C-17s fly to and from Christchurch, NZ with our cargo on it that we then break down and either keep here in McMurdo or send out to the field camps. Once we build up all of the pallets they are loaded on the deltas for their 15 mile journey out to the airfield.  This season we have flown over 80 flights to the Pole, and almost as many to all of the other field camps combined.  My primary job is to plan the safe and fuel efficient cargo loads for the aircraft.  Even though these are all military aircraft they are here on a peaceful mission.

Bags getting loaded on the metal pallet

Our line of pallets in our cargo yard waiting to go out
to the airfield.

Loading a pallet on the delta to take out to the airfield
for the flight.



Our pallet line out at the airfield.

The cargo is put on a sled and pushed up to
the plane for loading on the aircraft.

Cargo is sometimes taken out using the Kress vehicle

Cargo being loaded back on a delta to take back
to McMurdo from the airfield.

The airfield is built on the Ross Ice Shelf.
It is built on the snow so provides some challenges.  They fly to the field camps and
land in some strong winds and storms.  The
pilots do a wonderful job.  Sometimes the snow
is so deep and soft at the field camps that
they have to use extra rockets on the outside
of the plane to take off.

C-17 coming from Christchurch.  It comes between 3-5
per week.

C-130 flight line



The C-130's are equipped with skis so they
can land on the snow and ice at the field camps.



C-130 using ATO rocket to assist
with takeoff from a field camp

Icestock

Icestock is McMurdo's version of Woodstock.  It is our very own music festival with several bands performing throughout the day.  It goes from 4pm-1am on New Year's Eve, with a short break at midnight for the countdown, and then the big red Santa drops, and everyone celebrates New Years with champagne.  It is a great time to dress up, dance and enjoy the music.  The chili cook-off happens at the same time, so there is good chili to eat while listening to music.  The carpentry shop also provides hot chocolate or coffee, with Baileys if requested.  This year was quite cold, so other than a few warm-up breaks indoors, it was a great time with lots of great music.  What a great way to ring in the new year.

The IceStock stage

At midnight, Santa drops.

Cargo people doing the chili cook-off

Firefighters chili cook-off booth

Carpenters mixing hot cocoa.  There is a fork where the
drill bit would be.

Penguins!

I can't talk about Antarctica without mentioning penguins.  They are the cutest little guys I have ever seen.  I can watch them for hours because they waddle around and slide on the ice.  They are pretty vocal making their squawks and cute little noises.  These are adelie penguins, which are really playful.  The emperors are the only other penguins here by the Ross Sea, but I haven't seen them yet this season.

Penguin footprints

Christmas weekend

As you can imagine, Christmas is a busy time around McMurdo.  It starts off with the Christmas program at the waste barn.  It is set up with rows of discarded couches and chairs.  You have to get there fairly early to get a seat as it is a popular event.  There are hosts and hostesses that come around and serve beer and cookies.  The evening starts off with some Christmas songs done by the local bands or individuals.  Some classic songs, many are renditions of popular songs that have been tailored to living in Antarctica.  They are very clever and well done.  There was Oh Holy Night (about falling on your knees because of the ice), I'm getting fired for Christmas, The twelve days in Christchurch, and many more.  This is one event I really enjoy.  The party was held on the 17th so the theme was apocalyptic so there were elves riding on asteriods.

One Christmas Eve, we had our big Christmas dinner.  There was tons of food, and it was a nice relaxing evening.  The next morning we had our White Elephant gift exchange at Hut 10.  Hut 10 used to be officers quarters, but now you can request it and hold parties there.  We decorate it for Christmas and show every Christmas movie ever produced while we play games and have fun.

On Christmas day, there is the McMurdo Alternative Art Gallery (MAAG).  MAAG is a lot of fun and the creative people of the community can showcase their work.  Here are some of the MAAG entries:





Playing giant Jenga

Giant Teeter Totter

The carpentry shop where MAAG is held

MAAG Mascot

Hamster wheel for people