On Friday, the 5th of February, Building 155 took it's last hit of blue paint. That same day, I flew North! My re-deployment date was pushed up with the fast progress on Building 155 and that was fine with me! I flew to New Zealand on the
C17 and stepped out into a balmy night in Christchurch. The smells of fresh land air and the buzz of the city was exciting to get back to. Stepping out of the dreamland that is McMurdo Station into the real world again feels really good. It was an amazing opportunity and experience to be down in Antarctica and I dare say I will return. For now, a little easy going travelling in New Zealand is in order. Ocean time, hiking time, camping time with mates from the ice with nothing to answer to or work to do is exactly the medication one needs to go on after such a crazy experience!
I will be posting photos and writing more about my last days in Antarctica once I have more free computer time, but until then I am a rambling gyspy once again. Sending love out to all of you on my long way home, I wish you all the care and bliss in the world. -Anna
The South Pole
This week I was blessed to have the opportunity to go on a "sleigh ride" to the South Pole. This came as a total surprise. It felt like a great honor to get such a great boondoggle my first year. A boondoggle is a project “that wastes time and money”. In this case it was letting 10 people get on the C130 plane that was carrying fuel to Pole and then taking cargo back to McMurdo. We had 25 minutes at the Pole to walk to the ceremonial south pole which is surrounded by the flags of the countries in the Antarctic treaty and then walk hurriedly to the geographical south pole which moves on the ice yearly, and then through the South Pole station and get right back on the plane and take off for McMurdo! I got to sit in the cockpit for landing back at McMurdo. We could see McMurdo approaching, Mt. Erebus looming behind, half covered by clouds, and the channel broken out to the open sea water 50 miles beyond the base.
It was a three hour flight and we wore full ECW gear as it can be 60 degrees colder at pole than McMurdo. The South Pole station sits atop a featureless, windswept, icy plateau at an altitude of 9,306 ft about 800 miles from the nearest sea at McMurdo Sound. The ice is estimated to be about 9,000 ft thick at the Pole. The day we flew there it was around 20 below, sunny and calm. It was noticeably colder than McMurdo, the sharp crisp cold biting my face and hands as I took photos. The whole trip was totally awesome and it was really cool to run around the South Pole station, but I would say the most incredible part of the trip was the plane ride over the continent. Below is a little vignette from my journal that I wrote out during flight and photos that hardly do the natural beauty justice...
Pegasus Airfield
Sally waiting on the bus to the plane
Boarding the C130
Inside the plane
View of the Transantarctic mountians from the plane
Beardmore Glacier that Scott took to the Pole
Stepping out at the Pole
Buildings around the landscape
The South Pole!
The Geographic South Pole
The back entrance to the Station, called the "Beer Can"
Back on the plane!
View of McMurdo and Erebus beyondJanuary 26, 2010
This moment is surreal and dare I say Sublime. We are flying over the polar plateau, over mountains, glaciers, crevasses and ice, endless ice, flat and white as far as the eye can see. I went up into the cockpit when we were flying over the Beardmore Glacier. The glacier winds and curves down through the mountains, ice and millions of tons of pressure carving its way taken by gravity to the sea. I think of Scott, Amundsen and Shakelton and the members of their teams, the ponies and the dogs that travelled with them below me a hundred years ago. Walking, skiing, and sledding from the sea across this vast land of ice and perils of nature. Craziness or courage? The way has been lead for us by others, others willing to die to explore the unknown lands of the world. Here I am one hundred years later, flying in the sky to the South Pole, a flight of 3 hours compared to weeks of brutal cold, hardship and for some death. This continent brings me to my knees with its powerful, uninhabited emptiness. A land without people or plants only ice, rock and a few evolved species that dwell in it. There is a peace here that I have never experienced before. It is the peace of stillness. Silence, clean pure snow and ice, empty of all, the past buried under thousands of miles of ice. Is this the future of all land? The slate wiped clean, the mistakes buried along with the triumphs? Antarctica is evidence in my mind that all is indeed impermanent, that as full and phenomenal, as wretched and horrifying as human life can be, ultimately there is peace, and there is stillness. There is nothing. A land without people.
Scenes from MacTown
This past week has brought a few new arrivals to MacTown. The Oden icebreaker ship from Sweden has been breaking up the ice from the sea edge to McMurdo for about two weeks now and clearing the path for the Oil Tanker that arrived on Saturday, bringing in fuel.
The weather has been great now for over a week which means that we have been making building 155 VERY blue! We finished the roof and are now making our way around the building. It's fun to see the progress on the walls and hear everyone's opinions of the blue. It is so very very very blue! I like it. I think its great and refreshing in this muddy town of brown.
Here are a few photos from around town, the helo pad, one of our fish huts being moved, putting away the asbestos equiptment for the last time adn of course a popcorn break at the VMF (mechanics shop where you find the best popcorn on station and a (hopefully) endless supply of fireballs.
The weather has been great now for over a week which means that we have been making building 155 VERY blue! We finished the roof and are now making our way around the building. It's fun to see the progress on the walls and hear everyone's opinions of the blue. It is so very very very blue! I like it. I think its great and refreshing in this muddy town of brown.
Here are a few photos from around town, the helo pad, one of our fish huts being moved, putting away the asbestos equiptment for the last time adn of course a popcorn break at the VMF (mechanics shop where you find the best popcorn on station and a (hopefully) endless supply of fireballs.
My special blanket loves spinning in the snow
This blanket was given to me by my friend Arne who I met at a 10 day silent meditation retreat in a jungle in Thailand. We both had the chore of putting candles out around the ponds each day. He put the candles out around the rectangular male pond and I put the candles out around the round womens pond where we would do silent walking night time mediation around the ponds by candle light with the sound of monks chanting in the distance and frogs chirpping. Although it was a silent meditation and I never spoke to Arne, seeing him everyday we smiled at each other and became friends. At the end of the Vipassana we decided to hitch hike to an island together and ended up sharing bungalow's to save money. At first he let me borrow the blanket because he had two and I loved it so much that when we went separate ways he ended up giving it to me. He in turn had bought in India. It is a soft warm and incredibly cozy wool blanket and I take it everywhere with me, it rolls up real small and makes me feel at home instantly. Thanks Arne!
Weekend Camping :)
A nice little Saturday night camping trip out by Castle Rock on a sunny, warm and windless night does a soul good after a week of seemingly never ending work! It was fun to be able to have a tent all to myself and curl up into a cozy sleeping bag and scrunch down into the darkness to avoid all the light that never goes away! From where we camped we could see the sea ice slowly approaching as the Swedish icebreaker ship the Oden moves slowly up and down the channel opening up the ice so that the fuel tank and re-supply ship can come in a few weeks to McMurdo. We climbed up Castle Rock and enjoyed the endless beauty of a still night in a world of snow, ice and mountains...
the Oden breaks away the sea ice in the distance
"Car camping" with a Piston Bully
The little apple warming station
Mt. Erebus
Recebba
Mandy
View from the top of Castle Rock of our tents below in the snow
someone got his face rubbed into the snow
The view from my little tent in the morning.
the Oden breaks away the sea ice in the distance
"Car camping" with a Piston Bully
The little apple warming station
Mt. Erebus
Recebba
Mandy
View from the top of Castle Rock of our tents below in the snow
someone got his face rubbed into the snow
The view from my little tent in the morning.
Top Ten Reason's my Job is Hard
1) "Special" Project
2) Biggest building on station
3) 10 hour days, 6 days per week
4) 1 monster spray machine, paint thinner, and fumes
5) no materials
6) not enough materials once materials arrive
7) leaks in the hose
8) heat trace on hose starts on fire
9) harnesses, ropes and respirators
10) Painting outside in Antarctica is cold
Me working on the roof of 155, making it (electric!) NSF blue. I have been able to do some of the spraying which is very physical work, wrestling the "Anaconda" hose around.
2) Biggest building on station
3) 10 hour days, 6 days per week
4) 1 monster spray machine, paint thinner, and fumes
5) no materials
6) not enough materials once materials arrive
7) leaks in the hose
8) heat trace on hose starts on fire
9) harnesses, ropes and respirators
10) Painting outside in Antarctica is cold
Me working on the roof of 155, making it (electric!) NSF blue. I have been able to do some of the spraying which is very physical work, wrestling the "Anaconda" hose around.
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