Boondoggles

Every so often we get opportunities to get away from town on some form of fun vehicle. These trips used to be called "Boondoggles" but are now referred to as "Morale Trips".

Michiel won a "morale trip" by being one of the first ten people to volunteer to clean up the gym after the big Halloween party. He was invited to go one evening after work on "The Road to Nowhere".

The Road to Nowhere heads out over the permanent ice shelf ("white ice") towards Mt. Erebus, passing a Weddell Seal colony along the way. Passengers are transported in giant orange vehicles called Deltas.

Here are a couple of photos of a seal in front of the pressure ridges of the Erebus ice tongue.




The Road to Nowhere

Fun Vehicles

McMurdo has a fantastic collection of vehicles for use around town and on the sea ice.

Modified Ford Van

Pisten Bully - Average Speed: 12 miles per hour

Hagglund

Physiological Changes

There are some strange physical things that happen to you while you're down here. Most of them have to do with the extreme dryness – cracked skin, cuts that don’t heal without the help of Crazy Glue (an approved remedy, but not one you should use often), bloody noses, sore throats, and scaly scalps. Others are a bit stranger or grosser…the feeling of arthritis in your hands when you wake up, sticky, fluorescent-green snot and quick-growing fingernails and hair. Furthermore, almost everyone’s “normal” body temperature drops 1 degree Celsius to 36 or 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit.

I was talking to the Station physician one day and I mentioned that Michiel and I have noticed new gray hairs coming in faster than normal. He had noticed the same phenomenon with his own hair and explained that people seem to age faster here……great…...

Random thoughts

The other day, I was walking home from band practice and looked up into the sky. A skua flying overhead surprised me....not because I hadn't seen the large predatory gull-type birds before, but because I realized how uncommon it is to see other life forms here.

Skuas aren't very welcome by most McMurdo residents; they dive bomb anyone carrying unwrapped food and are particulary attracted to the blue cafeteria trays.

In other news...the Pole Traverse mission departed McMurdo on 11/11 at 11 AM. They are driving a tracked bulldozer-type vehicle across from here to the South Pole in order to (eventually) create a permanent surface route. They probe for crevasses and fill them in with snow along the nearly 1000 mile proposed route. After the route has been flagged (with bamboo poles and red or green flag), we will start sending cargo to the Pole by vehicle. This will free up the aircraft currently running these routes to support more trips to support scientists in field camps.

The Traverse Convoy - complete with living and dining units, scientific equipment and machines to blast enough snow to fill crevasses along the way.



It has been very warm lately - which has brought more snowfall than I've ever seen. McMurdo isn't a terribly attractive place, especially as the snow melts and the volcanic and rocky surfaces of the land become exposed - so the snowfall was a welcome respite from the dirt and rubble.

Scenes From Antarctica

Scott Base: The home of the Antarctic New Zealand Programme. There are about 60 people at their base, which is 1.6 miles (3 kms) away. The base bar is open to Americans on Thursday evenings and the store is open throughout the week. Notice the pressure ridges beyond.



Ice Town: The collection of movable buildings on the sea ice that support operations on the ice runway.



Reflections on the Sea Ice make it seem like we are looking out over open water.



Evening Hike