A trip to the Kiwi Scott Base

Thursday nights are American nights at the Kiwi Scott Base a few miles down the road. This base was named after Captain Robert Scott, Royal Navy. During his journey to the South Pole Scott arrived about a month after a Norwegian named Roald Amundsen, the first person to successfully trek to the South Pole. Scott and his team perished about a day from present day McMurdo trying to reach his vessel in McMurdo Sound.


A shuttle van took us to Scott Base. Most went to the pub but since this was my first time I went to the store and bought a few t-shirts. They actually carried 2XL shirts! I then walked around the shore and took several pictures. Scott Base sits right on the shore and is completely iced in. There are several open water areas for the Weddell Seals to leave the water and lay around on the ice. It was an overcast day so the pictures didn't come out that good. But you can see a different landscape than McMurdo. I intend to check out the pub at a later date. Soon it will be too dark to take any scenery pictures outside.

A long way from home.

Only 14 people winter over at Scott Base.

Weddell seals and a Skua in flight.

Tough life.

Pressure ridge on the Ross Ice Shelf.

A pressure ridge is a long crack in the ice that occurs because of repeated heating and cooling on the surface of the water.

Nice sleds.

In the distance is the ice runway the C-17's and C-130's use. The ice is 6 - 10 feet thick there.

Thin ice.

Cool little crevasse.

Surf''s up! An ice wave.

A stream along the volcanic shore.

It's starting to get dark. 0300 on my way to the station for an early morning satellite pass.