Pressure Ridges and Pegasus crash site

12-2-11

Today I got lucky and made it on a tour to see the pressure ridges. This is an area in McMurdo sound over by Scott Base where the ice is pushed in towards the land creating great pressure and forming these giant ridges and peaks where the ice pushes up and crashes together. It's purely beautiful since each formation is unique. They glow different shades of blue in the shade and sparkle brilliant white in the sunlight. It made it extra gorgeous since it was a crystal clear blue sky day so towering over the pressure ridges were Erebus, Mt. Terra Nova, Mt. Terror, and Mt. Discovery. The outdoor safety people have created a little hike through it, which you are guided around in. It's really awesome to weave around through these giant ridges. Of course, b/c the ice here is very dynamic and ever changing, there are some holes in the ice where the seals can come up. So as you walk around you can get really close to a whole bunch of seals and even pretty close to a few pups. Ann Del Vera (the lady I skied with and the one who skied to the south pole) was the leader. My friend Gustavo (from Denver) was on the trip and we had fun filming some videos pretending we were intelligent french phD's describing the pressure ridges and then early polar explorers in search of the south pole, only to come upon natives (the kiwi army members also on our tour) flourishing at the pole.

When we got back we were just in time for shuttle Nate's (the guy taking a break from his astronomy phD) lecture called "we are all made of stars"

12-3-11

Had a tour of Pegasus airport today as we will soon be moving the entire airport from the ice runway airport (located on sea ice) to Pegasus aiport (located on the Ross Ice Shelf) b/c eventually the sea ice will get too unstable. At the moment the sea ice is still about 8 feet thick, but with those huge airplanes they have to be careful. The ice runway is only 3 miles from town whereas pegasus is 16ish from town, so it will be a big change for shuttles.

Right now there is a blue panel congressional group in town looking to see how things are going out here and what needs to be changed, so everything is spiffed up for these DV's.

Went for a ski after work to the ice runway. It was kind of crazy b/c it is now a ghost runway. No buidlings or anything left as they have all been towed on giant sledges across the sea ice to the ice shelf.

"dude looks like a lady"

Tonight was the Scott (kiwi) base skirt party. It's been a tradition for years and years where they have a party where the guys have to dress up as ladies. Apparently way back in the early 1900's when Scott was stranded at his discovery hut here, they did a party where they dressed up as ladies to pass the time and have some change in their routine of being stranded here. The tradition has continued and now they do it at scott base. So a bunch of us guys had a cocktail party at Sully's dorm and dressed up as girls with the ladies helping us with make-up and hair. We were definitely a funny bunch considering almost everyone has facial hair. The girls dressed us up in themes from a church girl to sporty spice to a gal from the musical grease. For me they picked out a scandalous dress to be a slutty girl. The party was fun and included a runway competition and Miss Ross Island 2011.

One of the best parts of the party may have been the bus ride back over to McMurdo. After the party we headed over to the Science Support Center where they were having live bands and a dance party hosted by the search and rescue people.

12-04-11

Took a tour out to the Pegasus crash, which is where an airplane crash landed in 1970 during a blizzard with zero visibility. No one was killed in the crash, but the plane is now half covered in the ice shelf, so you can walk up on top of it now.
When we got back, the big McMurdo craft fair was going on with all sorts of arts and crafts for sale. It's really incredible the amount of talent here!

They had a congressional committee of dv's (distinguished visitors) come down to look at the US antarctic program and to see what direction they want it to go in the future. There were some big wigs including a former senator from tennessee. At night after dinner they held a town hall type meeting where we could ask questions and make suggestions. That was pretty cool b/c a lot of the people got into it.