The Big Day

Monday September 8th was the day of days for me. Not something I will soon forget. At 2:30am we leave the hotel and head to the airport. First order of business, getting ALL the ECW (see previous post) gear donned and the baggage weighed. My baggage clocked in at 114 pounds, not including my carry-on, and I was lucky that they let me adhere to the winter-over weight limit, as I am still an alternate for the position. After sitting in all that gear for about an hour, they tell us it is -65F on the Pegasus Ice Field, which means the engines of the USAF C-17 would freeze up upon descent into the ice shelf. They tell us -50F is the cut-off, and that is still pushing it. So we are forced to sit there and wait to see if conditions improve, which fortunately they did and a couple of hours later we were in the air.

If you have never been inside of an Air Force cargo plane let me tell you, it is impressive. The sheer size and power are awe inspiring. We sit in jump seats along the side of the plane with cargo taking up the center. It was a much more comfortable flight than anticipated, aside from the noise. All the ear muffs in the world wouldn't drown out the noise from those engines. Anyways, the USAF crew was very nice, and even let us into the cockpit for a few pictures during the flight. I waited until the end of the flight to do this, a strategic move on my part. As I was one of the last people allowed up (I almost missed my chance), I was afforded views out the cockpit window that truly made my jaw hit the floor. I waited because I figured (correctly) that towards the end of the flight we would for a short time be flying over the frozen continent rather than ocean, and it payed off with the spectacular views you see. Our flight path took us directly over the Trans-Antarctic mountains, which scrape the sky at 8,000-16,000 feet. These are the mountains that you see in the pictures.

When we landed the temperature had risen considerably, as it was a very comfortable (yeah right) -35F. There is nothing on the ice field to block the wind, so to me it felt like it was about -300F. But it didn't matter because here I was!!!! Less than 200,000 people in history had viewed what I was viewing right now! An incredibly overwhelming feeling had taken over, accompanied by mixed emotions of excitement and depression. How exciting to be here, but also realizing this was a point of no return to some extent. There are a lot of people I really love that I wont be seeing for quite some time kept running through my head. Namely, my parents and Jen. It was a very sobering excitement to say the least.

An hour later our shuttle deposited us in the town of McMurdo, which is surrounded by HUGE mountains and the only active volcano on Antarctica, Mount Erebus, at over 14,000 feet. Snow-covered mountains dominate the landscape as far as the eye can see, with nothing but 25 miles of the flat Ross Ice Shelf and lots of wind seperating us. Oh yeah, where we landed was frozen ocean, not the Ross Ice Shelf as I had thought. This was kind of scary because the Ross Ice Shelf is thousands of feet thick and permanent throughout the summer. The Pegasus Ice Field is on frozen ocean about 10-20 feet thick, and will not exist in a couple of months except to the penguins, whales, and seals. It is a bit unnerving to be in a plane weighing how many thousands of pounds and knowing the ice underneath you is maybe only 10 feet thick and will be gone in a few months!

Being surrounded by such large mountains, the wind in McMurdo is much tamer (relative to the ice field only) resulting in a bit warmer weather. -18F when we arrived in town, but it is so dry here that it doesn't feel quite that cold. Don't get me wrong, it feels really really cold out there, but bearable when not super windy. One quick orientation later and I was giving myself a self-guided tour of the station. Two gyms, one with treadmills and such (the gerbil gym) and the other with weights (the meathead gym) as they are affectionately known. Also a small climbing wall, indoor basketball court which doubles as a volleyball and small soccer court. They have a ceramics room too! I think with a gym, climbing wall, and wheel to throw on I am going to be able to pass time no problem. Also there is a greenhouse with a hammock in it, saunas in all the dorms, a library, and bowling alley (the oldest operating bowling alley in the world), but you have to set the pins up yourself... They tell me pinsetters work for tips.

When we landed it was about 1:30pm and the sun was just barely above the horizon, and by 2:30 or 3:00 it had set. (See third to last picture, taken at 2:35pm). Right now we get about 4 hours of daylight each day. (Maybe twilight would be a better description because it is not very bright). At six o'clock my self guided tour was in the pitch black. (COLD!!!!!!!!). Apparently two days before I arrived it was condition 1, which means -100F or worse with less than 25 feet visability. Nobody is allowed to leave the building they are in without permission from the firehouse if condition 1 is sounded. Right now it is condition 3, which is the best weather but still much too cold for my liking. It's 20 below outside and believe it or not I have seen people in shorts outside... These people are institutionalized.

I'll post more when I get a better feel for the place. I hope you all enjoy the pictures and thanks so much for all the comments everyone. I really appreciate hearing from all of you. Love you all.