A Few Last Precious Pieces of Mail

As part of my duties in the MET (MAPCON EDITING TEAM) this year, I get to be an official appointed military postal clerk. Sweet! This means that I get to hand out the last precious pieces of letter and package mail to a few lucky winterovers.

My special laminated identification card!

Don't I look official?

I move packages from here to there. And there to here.

It's quite exciting to hand over such a gem,
especially to unexpectant recipients!

Larry likes to help too! We are the epitome of friendly postal clerks!

I got several unexpected pieces of mail which included a valentine and some decorative hair feathers from Robyn, a San Diego post card from Rebexy, an art-Opening announcement from my step-mom Jean's art-opening in Boulder (you can go see her art for me at Twig on Pearl Street (1831 Pearl Street, Boulder), and finally, a package from Rory that included a bag of Hershey's Almond Kisses and a stellar scope for identifying constellations in the Southern Hemisphere. THANK YOU ALL for making me feel so loved and special!

The Norwegians

Recently a Norwegian yacht was bobbing about in the bay. Supposedly they were attempting to follow in the footsteps of Roald Amundsen by making a trip to the South Pole. Normally, the McMurdo South Pole Traverse, which takes about two months (1600 miles round trip from McMurdo to the South Pole) involves a whole caravan of sleeping quarters, mechanics, fuel and supplies to keep the station in operation for the next year. But these Norwegians were attempting to make it on ATVs, in February - nearly WINTER. Not the best choice. Anyhow, of the five members of the crew, three died (in the yacht in the Ross Sea, with reports of up to 30 Foot Swells. We had a Condition 2 storm on Ross Island).

The Norwegian ATVs, so named "Endurance" after Amundsen's expedition.

Here are a few links to news articles on the Norwegians:

"Norwegian Adventurers Missing in Ross Sea"

"Three Die in 'Viking' Yacht off Antarctica"

"Charges Filed Against Captain of Failed Polar Expedition"

Regardless of whatever the actual circumstances of the situation, level of preparedness and the failure of the polar expedition, it's sad that three people lost their lives.

Open Water all the Way Over to Scott Base

The massive amount of open water continues to break up the ice shelf.

Kelli takes a walk down the plank to get a better look.

Looks serene right? Tropical even? Think again.
It was wicked wicked cold out and windy as hell.

Which is exactly why I bundled up to walk the plank!

Most of the Pressure Ridges near Scott Base have melted,
these remain, along with penguins and seals.

Kelli against Mt. Terror.

Erebus on the left, Terror on the right.
Visible also is the transition and the beginning
of the road to Pegasus Airfield.

Panoramic view of Mt. Erebus, the transition and
the road leading to Pegasus Airfield.

Hut Point and Open Water Videos

This year, I'm making and effort to take and upload more short videos.

Here are few of Hut Point and open water.



In this video, you can see little chunks of ice floating in the
bay and two Adelie penguins hanging out at the base of Hut Point.



Standing on the base of Hut Ridge and looking out, one would normally
only see ice for miles and miles. The channel usually is opened up by the
Icebreaker for the supply vessel to come in. This season, however,
there is an abundance of open water, with crashing waves even.
Listen to the sound too - there aren't many sounds in Antarctica
other than wind, which of course you can also hear on the video!

Winterover Survival Training

At the beginning of each winter season, we winterovers are required to complete The Push Course (aka Winterover Survival Training). From recognizing frostnip and frostbite to building a wind wall out of snow bricks and learning to set up a tent in a wind storm, we learn how to survive Antarctia. Remember, "Antarctica is always trying to kill you."

Winterover Survival Training (WOST) is held in the
Science Support Center (SSC).

Kelli is our instructor. She's kind of a badass.
And we graduated from BHS together! Way back in '96.

Kelli gives us the low-down on how to tell which is the front and back
of the tent and tricks for setting up in a wicked wind storm.

There are a few different kinds of tents; we got to practice with all of them.

Look! I'm tying a trucker's knot to secure the
tent to the snow using a Dead Man's anchor.

Here we're learning how to cut snow blocks.

And discussing the best way to construct our wind wall.

Brooks was a little sleepy (and he already knows all this -
he's a badass like Kelli) so he decided to snack on some sunshine.

Here I am priming the fuel can.

And connecting the camp stove to the fuel can, which,
as you can see by my tongue, requires a great deal of concentration.

Lighter ready!

Me Chichi! I make fire!
This is probably the only time I will see an actual fire flame
all season. Otherwise, they have a nice crakling virtual fire
playing on channel 4 on the T.V. on occasion.

And that kids, is how you survive in Antarctica.

Open Water, Ice and Penguins...Oh My!

After work, in the gloriousness of little wind and still present sunshine, I decided to walk down to Hut Point and take in the open water. Last year, there was a fair amount of open water around Hut Point and in the channell, but this year is unbelievable. Not only is there open water in entire bay, but all the way over to Scott Base and all around Hut Point, streching way out into the Ross Sea.

I could hear the surf crash at Hut Point. Take a look:

Ahhh...MacTown. This is the view from my new work center up in B140.

The vastness of open water will picturesque chunks of floating ice!

The new (and already broken) ice pier and Hut Point.

A closer view of the pier and the ice!

Crack!

Look at all those ice chunks!

I claim the middle one!

Slosh, slosh! So much water!

Ice, ice, baby.

Incredible!

As far as the eye can see, Ice!

Looks so glacial, doesn't it?

So blue and white! (There are only so many ways to describe ice and water!)

Vince's Cross at Hut Point overlooking the Sea Ice!

Mountains, Ice and Sea!

Sun, surf, ice.
Penguins! These Adelies are molting, so not the usual animated and playful sort I've seen before. I've heard that molting is painful for them and these little guys were hunkered down on the point.

One, Two, Three!

What does it mean when a penguin sees his shadow on February 25th?
Winter FOREVER!

What up?

I generally have the dialogue of the Madagascar penguins
running in my head every time I see the little Adelies!

Take that!

Awww...penguins!

Same Continent, Same Town, Same Room

My main pad while in McMurdo was in B155, Room 127. Which is where, by some miracle and a little blessing from the Housing Gods (ha!), I landed upon arrival. I did, however, have a few (2) less-than-excited roommates I would be sharing the room with for a few days before they departed.

Surprisingly, these less-than-excited roommates actually went down to the housing office to complain about my presence as they needed the THREE EXTRA BEDS in the room to pack. TO PACK! Because they were leaving in two days. Really? Thankfully, when I went to housing to discuss this ridiculous issue, they agreed that I should not and did not have to move. WHEW! There is nothing I'd rather do less than schlep my 150 lbs. of crap all over station after just having travelled half way around the world. Anyhow, I was relieved I was able to stay in my winter room.

After my less-than-excited roommates left station, I was more-than-happy to clean up and have the room all to myself. I had the foresight to take before pictures and will, of course, post the final pictures once I have everything set up.

This is my temporary bed, covered in all my crap, above and below!

The other beds, filled with more
of my crap and my lovely fake plant that Bamma
kept for me over the summer season!

More beds and a wee bit of homemade shelving.

The wardrobe, refrigerator and desk. Glamorous, no?

The desk. However, the most important item in this photo
is the iPod player, which was the first thing I set
up before I started cleaning and moving furniture around.

Wow, I really do have a lot of crap!

I turned two of the beds into a couch, the patchwork pillows
were made and loaned to me by Bamma!

Furniture moves and stacks!

The Bed. These mattresses are about as comfortable as those
sleeper sofas with the metal bar right in the middle of my back.
However, I will be borrowing some extra mattresses from MC from
his upstairs room, which happen to be much nicer.

Sometimes crap piles just migrate from one side of the room to the other!

Bamma came over for a dinner date!
All in all, I am very lucky to have gotten directly into my room AND to have my roommates leave so soon. Sadly, some winterovers are still waiting to get settled. For now, I'm still unpacking and trying to decide what home will be like for the next eight months.