Pressured

Behind the New Zealand Station there is a beautiful phenomenon which we've come to know as "the pressure ridges". The movement of the sea ice against the shore has created great forces and pushed it upwards. In places it looks like frozen sea waves while in other spots big chunks of ice have been pushed upwards. Alternating thawing and freezing has also created beautiful icicles.
In years past you were allowed to walk freely in this landscape, but for some reason (maybe a minor incident like someone twisting his ankle) it was deemed too unsafe. The Kiwis for years have been allowing their people to do this and have been doing regular safety inspections of the route to make sure that unsafe areas were marked with black flags. So after much lobbying and the appointment of official "guides" the route was opened again for Americans who could sign up for it on the sign-up sheet outside the Rec office.


More pictures on our picture website:
http://michielandsherithepictures.blogspot.com/

Helo Ride to the Ice Breaker!

Happy Holidays! We enjoyed a quiet and well-needed rest during our 2 day weekend for Christmas. The station had a huge holiday party - complete with Santa, door prizes and eggnog - as well as a big holiday dinner with lobster tails and duck.

We went for a couple of walks (and saw a lone Adelie penguin), played games and watched "Weeds", my new favorite cable series.

The season is ramping up to a fever pitch of activity as the ice breaker ship approaches. This annual event signals the approach of the re-supply vessel and the fuel ship. This year, the NSF contracted a Swedish ship, the Oden, to break the channel through the ice from open water. The ship had several scientists on board who needed to fly out to New Zealand, so I was invited to go on board to do the "bag drag" for the departing passengers. Bag drag is the process of weighing passenger's checked bags as well as the passengers themselves with their hand-carry bag.

The ship was only 5 miles from the ice edge, so the only way we could get to the Oden was by helicopter. Helicopters are used extensively by the US Antarctic Program to get scientists and their field support teams to various field camps. This was my very first helo ride in Antarctica, so I was very excited!

We traveled 15 minutes over the ice and spied lots of Weddell Seals hanging out by the pressure cracks as well as a group of about 9 Adelie penguins scattering from the sound of our rotors. We landed next to the ship and enjoyed great views of the freshly created channel at the stern and the large chunks of ice churned up next to the vessel.

We got a short tour of the boat after doing our work and I was particularly impressed by their 2 pine saunas and snazzy bar. As you would expect from a Swedish ship, we were offered Wasabread and coffee :)

Here is a short movie (high quality for fast internet connections)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6N1lJ1nEYg

Same movie in low quality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uojQ_I0_dME

Update on the MSNBC.com situation

The uproar is dying down on station as the reporter mentioned in our last posting as made a sort of public apology by way of his most recent article on MSNBC.com. We did get to meet him briefly, as well as his photographer (who seems like a pretty cool guy). Our photo is included in the Slide Show on the right hand side of the article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15834019/). We were photographed while doing our weekly volunteer duties in the greenhouse.

In order to not be confused with this spurned and ridiculed reporter, the visiting PBS crew has taped "We are not from MSNBC.com" signs to the back of their parkas!

Whiny Reporters

We are all hopped up on sugar from the many shipments from loved ones and friends at home of candy for the holidays. The holidays are a time when people focus on internet shopping, two day weekends ahead (for Christmas and New Year's) and packages from home. This year, unlike other years, we are actually celebrating these holidays on the correct days. In the past, all holidays would be celebrated on the closest Saturday....it felt especially silly on New Year's Eve!
Did you know that we can receive mail and packages down here?
Michiel Gitzels (or Sheri Bluestein) , RPSC
McMurdo Station
PSC 469 Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035

I'm writing today to share the ridiculous article in MSNBC written by a reporter who arrived yesterday. This article been circulating around here in email with the subject line: "Mr. Poopypants" as the piece is simply his whiny description of how difficult his trip here has been. One of my co-workers is the "snoring" roommate and has cancelled any personal guided tours he would have done for the guy. He has also pledged to get really drunk tonight so that he REALLY snores tonight.

Check it out at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15834019/from/ET/

You can also check out the response on Big Dead Place, a website written by the author of the book by the same name, who is a former Antarctican with plenty of harsh words about life here. http://bigdeadplace.com/frontierwatch.html

Snubbed by Werner

There have been two film crews down here working on documentaries. One is focusing on human life at McMurdo and is being directed by Anne Aghion, an award-winning film-maker who has done several films on the post-genocide trials in Rwanda. She and her her crew of 2 (one sound guy and one camera guy) arrived in August with the small group of employees in charge of getting the station ready for it's main season (Mainbody). Those of us who arrived in October for Mainbody were surprised (to put it mildly) to have a camera and boom mike shoved in our faces as we greeted old friends. I did enjoy, however, seeing one of the Rwanda documentaries and listed to Anne describe her experiences there.

Two weeks ago, Werner Herzog, the German film/documentary maker - best known for "Aguirre: The Wrath of God", "The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser", and most recently "Grizzly Man" - arrived on station. He is planning to do a documentary from out in the field about the natural beauty of this land. Before he heads out to the field, he has been hanging around town and doing some filming. He brought his cameraman to last weekend's talent contest and got up on stage and in people's faces while they performed (I was surprised at how close you have to get a microphone to someone's face in order to get good sound). The winner of the talent contest called Freak Train, by the way, was a woman who did a Tina Turner impersonation. Excellent! But I digress....



I was excited about having him here on station as I had really appreciated his perspective and treatment of Timothy Treadwell in "Grizzly Man". I found the film to be thought-provoking and balanced.

Last night, Mr. Herzog screened a film from 1932 about circus freaks called "Freaks". He gave an introduction to the film and discussed why it was meaningful to him as a film-maker and how he, like Tod Browning, the maker of "Freaks", tried to show the humanity and beauty of subjects seen by society as ugly, scary and freakish. He compared this approach to that of some of his films. After the film, he mingled and I asked him if "Grizzly Man" was also of the same vein. Perhaps I offended him by suggesting that Timothy Treadwell was a freak or perhaps he snubbed me because I was so mainstream as to only mention his most popular and accessible film. In any event, he turned away from me, looked at someone else, gave a short response and then changed the subject.

Nothing like meeting "a star" in real life to shatter any positive feelings you might have had.....