Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone out there!

I made it home from Antarctica on Dec. 15th and I've been just relaxing and visiting family since then. With the new year, it's time to start whittling away at the pile of work that has built up. Even though the field portion of the expedition is over, my job doesn't change much--only the location where I'm working from. There are fewer day-to-day surprises that pop up, but there is still plenty to do on the data management, software development, and web fronts. And I guess that means I'd better get back to it!

So long, and thanks for all the...chicken

In a few short hours, I'll be hopping on a C-17 cargo plane and heading home by way of New Zealand. Leaving is somewhat bittersweet as I don't know when or even if I'll be back to Antarctica again. People often ask me "Why Antarctica?" It's such an amazing and intense place. You end up living and working in such close quarters with people that you can't help but get to really know them. The quality of friendships forged down here amazes me the most. I feel very fortunate to be walking away from this experience with a bunch of really great friends. The other great thing about Antarctica is that it has forced me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to learn a lot about myself and the world. And you can't beat the scenery. I've seen landscapes that take your breath away.

With all that said though, I'm really excited to get home and settle back into life. Hopefully I'll be able to relax for a few days before starting back to work. There's also a lot of work in the coming weeks and months to get Elizabeth and my wedding and reception arranged. She's been handling all of the details while I've been gone so it's about time I go back and start lending a hand.

Some of you may remember that I had a bet going about not eating Frosty Boy. I'm proud to say that I made it the whole season, as did Cara. So yesterday we met at dinner and each had a bowl. It was delicious, but I'm still glad I held out.

Cheers.

A harrowing journey

Yesterday I barely returned from a traverse to a geological feature called Castle Rock. The conditions were appalling. The sun beat down from a clear blue sky and a cold wind howled down the ridge. It was like hiking across a mirror under a full afternoon sun. My face bore the brunt of the sun and wind's assault. My sunglasses were the only thing that saved me from snow blindness.

In all seriousness, though, it was pretty foolish of me to forget to put sunscreen on while out hiking for 4 hours. The sun down here ravages your face if you're out for any length of time. And I'm paying the price today. It's been a rather hard season on my face, with frostbite early on and sunburn now. I'm going to come home and be pretty leather faced. The trip yielded some nice photos, though:

Final Week

This marks the start of my final week on ice. We got up early this morning and saw a large group of ANDRILL folks off. With this mass exodus, our numbers are cut in half. It was hard seeing people go, but there's still a lot of work to be done and I will see many of them in Florida in a couple of months.

The last couple of days have been alternating between full on and relaxed. I'm sitting in an office with Rich, Laura, and Leslie, so there is always something going on or someone coming and going. Fortunately, when things do get stressed, someone busts out a joke and breaks the tension.

I'm looking forward to getting home and some R&R. This season seems to have taken it out of me more than last, but last year everything was new and novel. Anyhow, no pictures this post. Hopefully I'll have some for the next post. Cheers.

Antarctic Vehicles 4: Tucker Sno-Cat

Yesterday I added another vehicle to my repertoire, the Tucker Sno-Cat:


We had to get out to the drill site for a video conference and the only vehicle available was this trusty Tucker. It's slow like a Pisten Bully--our hand held GPS unit had us clocked in at 11 knots, which is just over 12 mph--but the ride was fairly smooth since it actually has a suspension. The Tuckers must be quite durable as this one was manufactured in 1984--only 2 years after I was born.

On the way out to the site, we ran into some pretty dicey weather. The snow was blowing so bad you couldn't see the next flag on the route until you were almost on top of it, so we had to drive by GPS. It's frighteningly easy to get lost in conditions like that if you lose the flags.

When we were leaving the drill site, there was a group of penguins that came to check out the Tucker from a distance:


This may be the end of the Antarctic Vehicle series. I think I've driven most of the ground vehicles available to the scientists, and I didn't have much luck convincing the helo pilot to let me fly it. This is Tucker Trucker 072 signing off.

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.

Random Pictures