79°46 S, 112°08 W, 1833 Meters Elevation

Nov 9 2012



After waiting two weeks for the fates to match up good weather with a working plane we finally departed. I was sporting a fresh haircut from the day before and tt was the first day that I had arrived at the transport center without feeling like I had forgotten something.



Rugged terrain by the coast



 There are a few windows in the back of a LC-130 and as we left the coast I captured a small picture of the last few coastal mountains. Shortly the ground below was hidden by clouds.


 

The clouds break after a few hours

 I was deep in a nap when someone nudged me to let me know that the clouds had broken up. I don't know how large that storm was but I imagine on the ground it looks like a white sandstorm. The plane was very loud and we wore heavy earmuffs to cut out the din. The flight itself was smooth but the hearing protection prevented us from chatting during the flight. 

 





 

The view is the same in every direction as far as I can see



As we flew over the ice sheet this was all there was to see. A giant lake of ice extending to the horizon in all directions. Not a spot of color for miles. No farms, no highways, no power lines, no lakes or rivers, or hills, or mountains. Just ice and wandering snowdrifts.

I performed a quiet Hail Mary at landing. We landed without incident at total of 924 nautical miles from McMurdo. It felt very different than landing on pavement or ice. The LC-130 that we rode is unique in that it sports skis for landing in the snow. When we landed we skied along for a great while and the landing was remarkably smooth. The Herc has rollers lining the entire floor so that palletized materials can be easily pushed on and off by the two load masters. At WAIS a tractor pushing a sled with the same rollers received our cargo. Passengers offloaded in front of the propellers while they were still running.

The Antarctic Wastes seem to go on forever behind me

After arrival we were briefly briefed on dangers, off limit areas, our responsibilities and general camp life. When I stepped out on to the ice and looked around I felt foolish having a wallet and set of keys on me (my Houston keys no less- when I miss home I reach for them in my pocket). It was around nine so I helped the utility tech, Abe, set up his tent. As evening approached we all crashed in a Jamesway. A Jamesway is a 1950s green tent deployed by the US Army during the Korean War. They are a rounded tent like a  Quonset Hut. Graffiti, (name,occupation, and year worked)   from as early as 1985 adorn the walls from the workers in the Antarctic program. We ran two large diesel heaters in our tent and were too hot in our heavy sleeping bags that night. I started reading Endurance, by Alfred Lansing, regarding Shackleton's last Antarctic adventure. I began to feel very blessed to have a heated structure to sleep in.

Nov 10 2012

I woke up to the rustling of my tent mates; six carpenters, one electrician, one utility tech. Guys and girls slipped out of their bags and layered up for the day. I stepped out to find the outhouse and was jolted awake by the -30 degree celsius temperature. When I got back to the Jamesway I looked at my companions and quoted Hunter S. Thompson- "What the fuck are we doin' out here in the middle of the desert?!"

We all crowded into the small kitchen for breakfast and sat on buckets elbow to elbow. Some people ate in the wash module in shower stalls that had no water yet. With food in our bellies we proceeded to build the Galley - possibly the most important tent in the camp.

The wind was brisk and visibility was low when we started. Allot of new people, myself included, worked to find a place in the crew. Kevin, a tall biker type with a ZZTop beard, said that we were two of the biggest dudes there and had a responsibility to carry all the heaviest stuff. I worked with him placing the flooring boxes. At times things went smooth and everyone was happy. Other times, like when we sheathed the floor with plywood, tempers flared when last years labelling system defied all conventional logic and we had to wing it.



The Camp Staff can enjoy their meals like civilized people. This is a RAC tent- a modern version of the Jamesway

The Galley came together by 1800, hours earlier than anyone had hoped, and the weather had cleared by the afternoon. We were helping bring tables and chairs into the Galley when they removed the temporary heater by the door. This left a patch of slick rounded ice in the snow and I slipped on it and rolled my ankle.

I finished the day on my ankle, and even set my own tent up, but when I took off my boot my ankle was bruised and I decided against trooping my sleeping gear out to the my mountain tent. Only three of us slept in the heat that night - the rest of the group had moved on to their mountain tents.

By the morning my ankle had swollen so it would hardly fit my boot and I was forced to ask for a ACE bandage. That opened a can of worms and I was inspected by the nurse headed out to the furthest deep field camp, Pine Island Glacier (PIG), who confirmed my that my ankle was sprained. She told me that my ankle was no good but that smoking was much worse. Her name is Cary, very cute, but sadly she is recently married. So I was confined to light duties and spent my day putting all the extras in the galley like shelving, drying racks for gloves above the stoves, setting up the recycling center, and helping with dishes.

The foreman informed me that my ankle was a liability this far out and I was headed back to McMurdo. I spent the day bummed out, and made a call to my parents, and then headed to the Jamesway (this night alone- all hands had moved out to Tent City to make way for the morning arrivals), and awaited my morning flight back to McMurdo.

Nov 12, 2012

Wishing them luck - Anna, Forrest (old Growth), and myself. (from right to left).

Forrest, Old Growth as we like to call him, said to me that when a plane lands in WAIS a wise man gets on it. Everyone wished me a speedy recovery and I wished them luck. I packed my belongings, resolved to travel with less gear next assignment, helped the lead hand take down his tent (he spent two weeks out there preparing for our arrival and was headed back with me), and once the plane arrived and offloaded we took off. Nylander and I had the big LC-130 to ourselves that flight and we both stretched out and slept the three an a half hours home.

The end!