I arrived in CHC late last night. Heading north to Montueka tomorrow to start my kayaking trip.

One more day, again...

One more day...

Weather is turning bad again. 24 hour weather hold. Bad weather tomorrow. Not looking good to get out of here in the next couple days. At least I'm still on the payroll.

After using Roy's tracked truck to haul all our bags up to cargo to check in for the flight tomorrow, we went and did some sight seeing. First up to the old water plant on ob hill then over to t-site, where all the antennas are. I should have been wearing a coat, it was -5 out. I ran back to the truck really fast. We got a decent veiw of the ice edge (so close, about 5 miles out) and wasted a couple hours otherwise spent staring at the t.v. and waiting for the flight.

Whats one more day?

More bad weather, todays flight is delayed again. Looks like Im staying on the payroll for an extra day or two...

This little guy have been cruising around town with his golf ball for several days now. Odd, because as far as I know Skua's aren't know to take souveniers and carry them around. HMM. And, if the NSF is tuning in, no I did not feed it to him.

Well, not good. Gusty winds, low visibility and snow going on right now. Todays flight is delayed. Bad weather forcast for a few days. So if they can't get this flight off, they delay it which pushes my flight back. Cross you fingers.

Im famous. This picture is going in the Polar News, a local monthly newsletter. Thats me in the passenger seat. We were dragging a set of heaters out to that LC-130.

High Temps around 0, sun dipping lower and lower, friends heading north, 4 days left and time to go home.


We're packing up the airfield and moving everything on to storage areas or back to town. Half the station is gone with 126 leaving every other day. The sun is getting lower, the animals are getting out of town, and Im just waiting to leave.

9 days left on station for me, or about 794,250 seconds, but Im not counting. The fuel ship has arrived and left, the cargo ship just finnished un loading supplies and uploading all the garbage, and the icebreaker is getting ready to lead the way back out to sea. Civilian ships never showed up because the pack ice was too thick.

Temps are cold, single digits at the highest with windchill its been around -20F.

South Pole station closes the 15th. We have a 'soft close' on the 23rd. The last 100 or so people will leave on one flight in April. 165 will stay the winter in McMurdo. 65 at Pole.

As for me? I suppose the name of the blog is going to be 'Northbound with the Hammer Down' from now on. I arrive in Christchurch, New Zealand on the 21st. I have a sea kyaking trip with my roomate Andrew and a co-worker from my department lined up. 5 or 6 days of paddling and camping on the beach. Super. 7 days on a motorcycle after that, blasting around the south island. Heading to the north island. A couple 3-4 day long hikes interspursed with some days of surfing. Also looking into Zorbing. You roll down a hill strapped into a hampster ball type contraption. Off to Australia for some more surfing and who knows what else. I'm stopping hawaii for a few days, maybe do some snorkling, or rent an airplane. Then back to Denver and cool weather for a month before riding the Al-Can highway on a motorcycle. From the antarctic circle to the arctic circle. Working in Alaska this summer and then back to Antarctica in the fall.

So after next week the blog is going to be more sporadic as my computer time becomes drasticly reduced. Less time indoors, more time out having fun.

South Pole Trip

Yesterday was my lucky day. Everyone in my department had already had a trip to the South Pole so a spot on a southbound LC-130 got defaulted to me. Im the most jounior person in the department so I really didn't expect to go. I had a great flight, a couple hours on the ground and in the station and I was back in time for dinner.

My roomate Roy got to go too
Landing at Pole. I got to sit on the flight deck for landing. This is what the view looks like. Miles of flat snow and ice in every direction.
The Pole has their own little green house. This is really the only cool thing inside the station.
Heres what I came to see: The South Pole. The old dome station sits to the left of the new station. Snow is slowly covering the old station which is actually the seccond one built here. The first is buried in the snow. The new station is designed to have the snow blow under it and it can be raised every few years to accomodate the rising snow. This is the "Ceremonial Pole" the geographic pole is nearby.
My best Atlas impression at the geographic south pole
The 'beer can' in the background is stairs and pipes. My jacket got really frosty. It was -47F when we landed. You can also see frost on my glasses, cap and the snot from my nose starting to freeze too. Its exhausting just being there. Its 10,000 feet, cold, bright. Wow. Being used to sea level it was a major deal just to try and walk up a hill. The cold makes it so hard to breathe.
They aren't quite finnished with the station. The nickname has been 'plywood palace'

The old dome station is empty now, used for storage

Bye bye South Pole. It was nice to visit but I don't think I want to work there. Its so cold and isolated. Visiting is far more fun and McMurdo is where the fun is, Antarcticly speaking. My visit was just long enough, and pretty cool too. More people have climbed Mt Everest than been to the South Pole, or so I hear. Now that I've seen the South Pole, might as well go see the North Pole too, huh?

Im goin' to the pole!

Im going to the south pole in two days.

The fuel tanker Gianella arrived and delivered all the fuel for McMurdo and Pole for the next year. This means all the fuel for generators, heat, vehicles, and aircraft. Everything. Oh, and rising fuel costs put the delivery $4 million over budget, whoops.

The Nathaniel B. Palmer gave tours this week. Its an older ice breaker that reminds me alot of the movie 'Life Aquatic' with Bill Murray.

On the top deck

On the bridge of the N.B. Palmer
Big Bucket o' beer
Waste Barn party Saturday

Morning light

Skua Party

Well,

Temps 10-20F this week.

The sun is getting lower but still up 24 hours. Getting low at night and never higher than 45 degrees during the day.

Folks from the pole are starting to head out, they close the station on the 15th, we close shop on the 23rd. Starting to talk alot about wraping things up.

Planning on week of motorcycling in New Zealand with a friend. Looks like Im going to be able to do some flying too. Taking some time to bum around, not do much of anything and see alot. Going to head up to the north island, fly over to Australia, possibly visit Hawaii on the way back home. Should be back home in Denver for a spell then off to Alaska before May rolls around.

I'be been getting alot of e-mails from people that read the blog on a regular basis. Alot of people tell me they have friends and friends of friends that read it too. Very cool. I've even found it linked to from other sites. People that I don't even know are keeping an eye on me, wild. I may just have to keep this stuff up. I think Im going to keep putting pictures up through my trip to New Zealand and then up to Alaska. For now, just dreaming of green, beaches, all that stuff...