Day trip to Cape Royds

Iceberg stuck in the sea ice.

On Wednesday (Tue for you in the US) David, Katie, Jean and I took a day trip to Cape Royds, so David could give Katie a tour of the colony and Jean could set up her time-lapse camera to capture penguins and seals. It took us about and hour to drive out there on snow mobiles, over sea ice 5 or 6 feet thick. It was a beautiful day, with little wind, blue skies, and temperatures around freezing. We passed giant ice bergs frozen in place by the sea ice, rising blue from a flat plane of white. Mt Erebus steamed above us, one of the few volcanoes on earth where magma is exposed at the surface. We saw around 20 Weddell Seals basking on the ice near cracks or holes they use to dive for food.

Iceberg and mountains.

We arrived at Cape Royds to find the penguins dutifully getting started with the breeding season. Males had chosen territories and begun nest-building, and were displaying with flippers outstretched and bill pointed to the sky, hoping to attract a passing female. Some birds had formed pairs, and two nests already had a single egg each. The females will probably lay a second egg before heading out to sea to forage for two weeks while the male incubates. We searched the colony for banded birds, and got the camera set up for the time lapse shot. A highlight was seeing a Kelp Gull fly by, a species I didn't know came this far south, and that David said he has only seen occasionally here.

Adelie and steaming Mt. Erebus

The drive back was equally beautiful and somewhat uneventful as the drive out. The novelty of riding on a snow machine wore off fairly quickly, and then it was just a long, loud, uncomfortable ride.

Open water north west of Cape Royds.

The rest of that afternoon and for the last two days we've continued getting everything ready to go out to Cape Crozier. Jean and Katie flew to Cape Royds today, and we're set to fly tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it looks like we won't have internet out there, at least for a while. So this blog may be fairly short-lived. I may be able to get internet-via-satellite phone set up, but no promises. I'll update when I can, but it may not be until late January.

At this point I'm at peace with not being connected for a couple months. I appreciate the internet for its utility and entertainment value, but not having it will allow me to focus on other things for a while.

Until sometime in the future...

Arrived!!

We've arrived!



Two days ago we stepped off a C-17 military transport plane and onto ice. In that instant the travel to get here became a blur. The 20-odd hours from San Fransisco to Christchurch, dragging a weighbridge through New Zealand customs, watching marginal movies instead of sleeping. Then a rainy few days in Christchurch, sidestepping puddles, inspecting earthquake damage, safety training and cold-weather-gear issue, and a couple minor earthquakes in the night to puntuate our dreams. The 5 hour flight from Christchurch to McMurdo, loud and with few windows and strange-shaped cargo onboard, but finally we're over the continent and can peer down at glaciers pierced by meringue-like peaks. I step off the plane and am struck with the immensity of being here. Snowy mountains in the middle-ground hint at the frozen vastness beyond, a true wilderness. Closer is the bustle of McMurdo Station, dirty and busy, bureaucratic, funky. A frontier town stuck in the modern world. And the cold. It wasn't terribly bad when we arrived, around minus 10 C and 14 knots of wind, but any comparison to central California is a stretch.




Somewhere west of the Ross Sea.





Libby gets off the plane. I think that grin must have frozen on her face, because it didn't show any signs of change until we got inside a warm building.



We settled in and changed out of the extreme cold weather clothes we're required to wear on the flight. A post-dinner walk found Annie, Libby and I atop Ob Hill, overlooking McMurdo and Scott Base and all the wilderness beyond, rejoicing in our presence here. Then to sleep, with a dark curtain over the window to keep out the midnight sun. By some mysterious stroke of luck Libby and I somehow ended up with our own room, though there is another bunk in there so we'll likely get a room mate before long. David said penguins must have some influence we don't know about.



McMurdo colors.




Libby is standing on a rock, I promise. Atop Ob Hill, looking west-ish across McMurdo Sound, to mountains on the continent.






Yesterday and today we began preparations to head out to our field camps. We will be splitting in to 2 groups: Jean Pennycook and Katie Dugger to Cape Royds, and David Ainley, Annie Pollard, Libby and I to Capre Crozier. Sleeping bags, tents, fire extinguishers, shovels, hammers, toilet paper, GPS recievers, ice chests, backpacks and more all have to be sorted, packed, weighed and labeled for the helicopter flight.



Last evening's walk was out to Hut Point, where the Scott Expedition built a hut to overwinter on their fated South Pole bid. The hut looked remarkably well-preserved in this dry environment, though we couldn't go inside without a specially-trained guide. The clouds present since our arrival cleared and the wind was calm. Ice melted into mud on the roads. Two Weddell Seals lounged on the ice at the edge of town.









Libby and Annie chat with the Scott Hut (not to be confused with Scott Base) and McMurdo Station behind.











The rest of the week we'll be doing more prep: communications briefing, food-pull, tracking down missing gear. Tomorrow and the next day Libby will be in Happy Camper survival school.






More to come...