McMurdo Misc

My van and a whole lot of nothing but ice, snow and cold as far as the eye can see!

A crack in the road at the transition, where the ice and land meet.

The Kiwi sign at the Scott Base transition, any ideas why the Kiwi's used a Kangaroo?

Pressure ridges at the Scott Base transition.  This is where the permanent ice crashes into the temporary sea ice and causes it to buckle and break.  It will melt later this summer. A Seal in the background.

Cargo Margo directing a loader and load onto her Delta.  I love her radio call name, but she doesn't.  She's always been Margaret and never Margo - until she came here.

A freight Delta and Kelly and Amy discussing loads and stuff.

The waste barn where my friend Vicki works, where they sort and separate the recycling and garbage.

Lots of Korean war era equipment, including these dump trucks.

"Green Piece"

Ice town at the Ice Runway.

Speaking of Korean war era, these are "pickles"  1950's era Navy forklifts. 

I'm told we have the last remaining operating pickles in the world.

McMurdo's Coffee House, not fancy but a lot of fun!

One of my favorite hangouts even though I'm not a coffee drinker.

McMurdo, view from Ob hill

The multi level gray main building is the Crary Science lab, with the NSF offices in the Chalet.
  

Big Blue, building 155 is where I live and where the galley, library, store, etc are located.  Other dorms are in the background, the red roof is the medical clinic, the striped building is the firehoue and the two story building in the forefront is the Science Support Center.

  

 The building I work from, building 140, is in the center left, the one with a blue stripe and large cargo door.  To the right is the cargo yard and behind that is the heavy shop or VMF, Vehicle Maintenance Facility.

Pegasus Crash site

I got to go on a boondoggle today, a recreational trip to the site of the Pegasus crash site.  In 1970 a U.S. Navy C-121J VXE-6 "Pegasus 7" crash landed. The aircraft was destroyed but there were no fatalities among the 80 persons aboard (12 crew and 68 passengers).  The McMurdo Pegasus white ice runway is named after this aircraft and in honor of the crew who landed it safely in white out conditions.

An earlier photo of the Pegasus plane crash - you can see the name and flying horse.

Most of the plane is buried in snow drifts, but you can see the Navy lettering.

The tail markings.

Sadly, it reminds me of a beached whale.

I made it to McMurdo, October 17, 2011

I made it to McMurdo (McM) on Monday, October 17^th about noon.  Yeah!  AWESOME!

Dave & Kelly met me at the ice runway to welcome me to my 7^th and final continent!

That's me in my ECW gear and the Airbus I rode from NZ. 

What an awesome place!  It was really cold yesterday, about 30 below, but today was a more pleasant 6 below.  It’s COLD!  (well, duh!)  Anything warmer than 45 below is considered “Go” condition, meaning business as usual.  This place is so beautiful, amazing blue skies, every color of white and blue you can imagine – and lots of both!

I got to ride on the chartered commercial Airbus 319 with flight attendants and windows, amazing views of the sea ice and mountains.  The Air Force C-17 brought freight and other stuff.  I hope to fly out on the C-17 in February, an experience I was looking forward to.  In the meantime, I will be working around the NY Air National Guard (NYANG) LC-130's

Dave, Kelly and I work in the same building, so it’s great to see them every day.  In fact, Kelly gave us a presentation and test this afternoon (yes I passed).  My head is full, total information overload after 10 hours of training today.  I got to drive the Airporter van to Scott Base (Kiwi) and to the ice airstrip for training.  I get to work with so very interesting people, several from Alaska and other interesting places.

This is so very cool, I love hanging out with these people that have the same passion for travel and adventure I do!  This is going to be a fun job!  Not sure what the heck I was so worried about….

Unfortunately, the food is really good, plentiful and tasty.  The old timers say it’s the best it’s ever been!  Bad for my waistline, but I’m going to try to be really good.  I went to the gym at 5am but all the machines were full.  We have a very small gym for a community of 1,200 very active outdoorsy athletic types. 

The roommate situation isn’t the best, but it will work out.  I got my last choice of dorms and have 3 roommates ( 4 total) in a room that should have just 2 of us.

The training has been top notch, from the Orientation in Denver, to the ECW issue in ChCh (Christchurch) and now here on the ice.  I run into the great people from my orientation classes all the time, it’s been really social and fun.

Inside the Airbus, business class and comfy.

Antactica!

Coming in for a landing at McMurdo's Ice Runway.

Mt Erebus on the horizon.

IR, Ice Runway.

Scott's Hut, Hut Point, Antarctica

The exterior of Scott's Hut

The dusty interior of the hut.

Door with square nails beautifully done.

Long underwear drying, some things never change.

Biscuits.

Biscuits box.

Stores.

Oatmeal tins.

Hot chocolate, anyone?

Stores piled against the wall.

The seal blubber stove.

Christchurch & the New Brighton beach...

The CDC, Clothing Distribution Center, at the Christchurch airport.

All our ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) gear bags ready for the plane.

The poster telling us how to dress for the flight to the Ice.

The lighthouse at Brighton Beach, no longer functional.

A beautiful spring day in Brighton, NZ

A path to the beach...begging to be taken.

The Brighton Beach Pier.

The beach.

Lots of surfers were out on this day.

Another path to the beach with the Pier in the background.

More McMurdo scenes

Two of my favorites, Ann and Stephanie, from the mail room.  Since we work across the hall I get personalized mail delivery and love it.  So please send me mail!

The Welcome to McMurdo sign on Scott Hill.

Sign at McMurdo Station, Antarctica.

Stephanie skied to the IR (Ice Runway) and smiled about it!

Jen, Travis, Nate and Dave in the Shuttles office.

Road over Scott Base hill

Delta's and their passengers in Big Reds (parka's) They are at the IR waiting to board their plane.

3 Ford Shuttle Vans waiting at the IR for passengers.

A Basler and cool clouds at the Ice Runway (IR).

Mt Erebus, an active valcano 3795 meters high, with 2 Baslers and cargo in the foreground.

In addition to the 3 passenger Delta's I drive, there are also several freight delta's at McMurdo.

Cool clouds and amazing light at the IR in the morning.

Castle Rock and the Silver City Ice fall.