Antarctica 2011 - part 1

Only one day of delay in Christchurch due to weather - but it wasn't weather in McMurdo - it was the cold, windy, wet, turbulent, icy air over Christchurch that kept us grounded. Apparently LC-130's don't deal well with icy conditions.

The secret benifit of this delay was that we got scheduled to fly down on the big, noisy (but faster and more comfortable) C-17 instead. The same big fat jet that I've always taken to get down to the ice.

About 80 of us boarded it for the five and a half hour journey south.

L to R: Paul, Glen, Lars, Lars, and Christian waiting in line to check in for the ice flight at the Antarctic Center.

Lars Stemmerick sporting his Swedish Polar Research jacket on the C-17 flight. crew's eye view of the southern polar sushine pouring in through the windshield.

And we have landed on the 2011 Sea Ice runway of McMurdo Station!

Landed! Finally....

We made it to the forgotten continent!

When Harry Potter took the train to his first year at Hogwarts, he probably experienced less culture shock than I did upon my arrival to the Pegasus ice runway inside the C-17  "flying warehouse" last thursday. The flight was a bit more comfortable than our previous boomerang flight, possibly because most of us a) had the confidence we would actually make it this time, b) got to experience the flight during civilized daylight hours after a civilized breakfast, and c) our flight was over within 5.5 hours. 

Most everyone who has experienced this flight (and there have been thousands over the years...) will tell you about the tiny little windows in the emergency exit doors, and how they offer you the only opportunity you will get to see what is going on below you as the plane makes landfall over the Antarctic continent. Everyone starts to get up and wander around the aircraft approximately 4 hours into the flight, hoping to catch a glimpse of the transantarctics, the pack ice, and any other view that will remind you that you aren't in Kansas anymore. 

The mountains aren't high down there, but they do stretch off into seemingly infinite vastness. 

I did get a brief chance to climb up the stairs into the flight deck with my video and still camera, to catch a view and chat with the pilots - two commercial pilots who are doing their time with the USAF reserve. We could see the edge of the continent creeping closer, 50 or so miles ahead. There was palpable anxiety among most passengers on board, newbys and veterans alike. I snapped a few photos, and found out that we were moving a bit slow because we were flying into an 80 knot headwind. 

I spent the rest of the flight peering out the window when my turn came up, drinking coffee (its self-serve in the tiny galley up front). There is one lavatory on board - and over 100 passengers. The line gets long. 

Once we were in our seats, we had to be content with feeling the plane bank around, and we could see the nose gear be deployed thru a tiny window up front. We landed at Pegasus, a permanent ice runway located atop the ice shelf about 12 miles as the crow flies from McMurdo. Due to budget cuts, the sea-ice runway isn't getting built this season, so we all get to experience the long and bumpy ride in the Delta (huge wheeled vehicle used decades ago by the Navy) much like Mr Potter experienced the mysterious ride up to the castle in a horseless carriage. 

When the door opens, everyone gets a nice little shock. The weather was marginal when we landed. relatively poor visibility (for a big jet to land on an ice shelf), a stiff wind, and cold air. About a dozen staff helped shepherd us onto the Deltas, so we did't go wandering off into the cold air. 

Upon arrival in Mcmurdo, we were herded into the galley, and given an hour or so of briefing by the various departments. I felt like a new student getting beguiled by the wisdom of Dumbledore. Well, that might be a flattering exaggeration. Attention spans are short. For those of us that are new, our cluelessness makes us unable to retain details, and for those returning for another season on the ice, the anxiousness of seeing past friends and colleagues gets the better of them. 

Anyway, I got my room key, and then, before being committed to a lonly night alone in a place far, far away from anywhere I had ever been, the whole FSTP crew appeared in the lobby of the cafeteria, to greet me - the last straggler to join the team. I had a chance to reconnect with Brian, Danny, Nick, Jen, and Kevin, who I had spent time with in Christchurch, and I met Karen and our uber-boss, Brian J., for the first time. Then, I uttered the secret password to the fat lady in the portrait on the wall, which moved aside, and a crawled into my room and slept. Work ( a two-day "happy camper" course) started the next day at 7:30am. 

The inside of the C-17 flying warehouse. Lots of cargo strapped in the back. 

First views: The Transantarctics from the little emergency exit window. 

Once you walk out the door...
..... you start to get a feel for the weird and wacky place you are in. 

Riding shotgun in the Delta (thats Jen in the pic, and the driver in the back, Joe, just turned 80 this year. Jeez, some people just love their jobs!)

There are a couple of other C-17 shots I had intended to post, but that will have to wait till i have another free moment. 

Boomerang

Ten hours is a long time to spend in a plane. The 14 hour flight from LAX to Sydney was the longest I had ever taken up to this point I think. But at least on that flight we had several hot meals, lots of movies, a cluster of lavatories, blankets, and a tolerable decibel limit. Enter the C-17 Globemaster III. We boarded it at 1am this morning for the five hour flight to McMurdo. Our in-flight meal was a scrumptious two layers of bleached white bread with some soggy lettuce and mystery meat in between. We even had "chicken-flavored" potato chips. 

There are no windows in the C-17 save for the two emergency exit windows up front. No one bothered looking out of them for much of the flight because it was dark. At 4am I looked out our right side as we began crossing part of the continent. Ice, mountains, and glaciers stretched to the horizon. It was an amazing sight, in the soft blue light of dawn (or was it dusk? such a hard question at the arctic circle in spring...).  At five a.m., the battery abruptly died in my noise canceling headphones. The din of the engines became agonizing, until I dug around in my dozen or so pockets, until I found my cheap, foam headphones. Ahhh, what luxury. 

At five thirty, we began our descent, and just a few minutes later, we all noticed the plane banking gently to the left. The loadmaster got on the PA and said "that turn you are feeling is us turning around. There is bad weather at the ice runway. We are turning around. We will be back in Christchurch in about five hours". We were all too tired to complain. Some of us still may have been asleep. So we just sat their in our puffy cold weather gear, and tried to sleep over the incredible noise of the aircraft until we landed again in Christchurch. Hopefully we'll have better luck tomorrow.