Observation Hill Hike

The path up Ob-Hill

I couldn't sleep one night a couple weeks ago so I finally hiked up Observation Hill, or Ob-hill as we call it here. Ob hill is on the other side of McMurdo Station from Arrival Heights, the first little hike I did shortly after arriving here. It is between Scott Base and McMurdo Station. There is a cross on the top in memorial to the men who died on the way back from the South Pole in Scott's doomed mission.



Sign reads "Danger - Keep Away - Microwave Radiation

 On the first plateau is the location of the old nuclear plant that used to power the base in the days before the Antarctic Treaty. This sign has more to do with the box behind (some kind of communications thing) than the radiation on that site. There are a few foundations left from support buildings to the reactor. The location of the reactor has been excavated and all highly contaminated dirt (12,000 cubic yards) removed from the continent.* Over the course of its operation there had been a handful of leaks and adhoc repairs were found during its decommission. There were also planned discharges of effluent water that were found to react with the minerals in the soil that began to create areas of radiation above planned levels**

A picture of the Nuclear plant (est 1962 - ran through 1972)  before it was decommissioned*

 

From there the ascent gets rather steep and the path is a scrabble of loose rocks.

 

At the top is the cross in memorial to Scott's fatal expedition. Scott is thought to have died on March 29th 1912. Only three men made it on the return journey to their final resting place on the Ross Ice Shelf. It is estimated that their bodies are now 75 feet beneath the snow on a slow path to the ocean with the rest of the glacier*** 

Looking at McMurdo from the top



At the top I looked around and took some pictures. It was late now and I scrambled down and had a snack at the mid-rat's Lunch ( mid rats are the poor souls on night shift here.)



Looking to Scott base from the top



*Peter Rejcek. Powerful Reminder. June 2010. http://antarcticsun.usap.gov/features/contentHandler.cfm?id=2176

**Owen Wilkes and Robert Mann, The Story of Nukey Poo, The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, October 1978. www.books.google.com

***http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott#Last_march, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observation_Hill_(McMurdo_Station)