Wright Valley

Things have been busy since I last wrote. I made the transition back to the day shift. It wasn't too terrible. I did 18 hours up, 4 hours of sleep, then 24 hours up before the transition, so I just passed out for 12 hours from exhaustion and was on day shift schedule.

The first couple of days on day shift were a bit rough. I was fairly tired and there are a lot more people and a lot more going on during the day. I felt like everyone was coming at me and getting in my way in the Galley. Things are better now, though, as I integrate more fully with the hustle and bustle of days.

Yesterday, I went on a fam trip to Wright Valley in the Dry Valleys. The vistas were enough to take my breath away. My pictures don't do them justice, but I've included a few here:

This is a shot of the Air Devron Six Icefalls from our banking helicopter. The icefalls were spectacular. It looked like a waterfall frozen in time. The ice that is spilling over is from the Polar Plateau, the ice sheet that covers most of the continent.

Here's another shot of the icefalls from the Dais. In the foreground, you can see a feature called the Labyrinth.

This is another shot of the Labyrinth. If you didn't see the snow in the background, you might think you were in the American southwest.

This is down in Wright Valley proper. You can see some alpine glaciers spilling down the valley walls.

There's got to be worse places to sit down and take a rest.

This is an aerial shot from the helo on the flight back to McMurdo.