A Sunday Drive to 'A Room with a View'

On Sunday I had the opportunity to pick up friends at the Kiwi Square Frame camping hut. This converted mil-van hut is about 6 miles away and used by the Kiwi's in the summer as a working hut. In the winter it is available on weekends. Since there is no electricity a vehicle heating plug-in is not available so guests need to arrange their dropoff and pickup.  I enjoy getting out of town into the wild and after the normal 30 minutes pisten bully start up a friend and I were on our way. The weather was typical this time of year and blowing hard. I navigated with a GPS through the sometimes whiteout conditions. This particular pisten bully had steel tracks (versus rubber on the others I have driven) so it made for a rough ride especially at the transition from the Ross Island onto the ice shelf which stretches over McMurdo Sound. But once on the ice shelf it was pretty smooth and flat where I was able to max out to the 11mph top pisten bully speed. The drive normally takes about 40 minutes but the visibility put it closer to an hour.

Once there we took a quick tour of the one room and were back on the road quickly as the weather continued to deteriorate. The drive back was very demanding as the tail wind blew the exhaust onto the front window where it instantly froze. We continually had to stop, get out, and scrape the window. I felt like I was driving a tank and looking out of small slits of clear window. Even though we had the GPS tracking it was a little unnerving with the extremely poor visibility. If you drive too much off the tracked route there are crevasses to deal with. We eventually made it to Scott Base where the guests dropped off some borrowed gear. After that it was another 2 miles to McMurdo. It was a fun trip but a nicer day would have made it more enjoyable. But then it would not have been Antarctica.

Out for a Sunday drive.

Use the gas pedal to set RPMs to around 1700 (right of steering handle). Speed controlled by the white dial. Transmission toggle to the left of dial.

Inside the Kiwi Square Frame. There are four bunks through the opening.

This affords a nice warm view of Mt. Erebus during a full moon.

There is no plumbing or electricity. Water is brought in and removed. A small camping stove is available for cooking.

A warm stove.

A map of New Zealand and replicas of the flags from Scott's Discovery Hut.

The Kiwi Square Frame is basically a mil-van made into a hut and towed out to the ice.

The guests chariot awaits.

A fine Antarctic day - Snowing and blowing.

Right inside the outer door is the toilet. There is a seat with a 'human waste bucket' underneath. You also bring your own pee bottles. When leaving you take everything with you.

I can add Antarctic 'chauffeur' to my resume now! 

Three short videos during the drive out:

The Beautiful Antarctic Sky

I normally don't like to post pictures that I haven't taken. But there comes a time when a friend's work is so beautiful that there is no comparison to your own work. My camera just won't capture the Antarctic sky as it is really seen. One of the advantages of a winter-over is observing skies like this 22 hours a day when it is clear. Photo credit and thanks for the permission to post the following photographs to Deven Stross.

The Milky Way galaxy and an aurora!

The Milky Way galaxy.

A beautiful light show!

The best aurora I have observed yet. July 15, 2012 around 6 pm. This type of aurora is called a pillar.

One can never tire from this view.

In the past 25 years dogs have been banned from Antarctica due to various problems including chasing seals and penguins.

The real reason why dogs aren't allowed in Antarctica! A disturbing picture but what is even more disturbing is that this kind of looks like my dog Tobi.

Another week is blowing by and the Big Gym

A mid week storm arrived and we went to condition 1 in some areas. The antennas I work on are in Arrival Heights. There is no travel allowed during Con 1 as the wind is greater than 55 knots. Condition 3 is normal.

Weather Conditions

McMurdo	2
T-Site	1
Arrival Heights	1
Scott Base	2
Road to Scott Base	1
Ice Runway	3
Road to Ice Runway	3
Pegasus Field	1
Road to Pegasus Field	1
LDB Site/Road	1

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&feature=vm&video_id=zw2BN3T-5Ew

A YouTube link to a few minutes of another small storm passing by.

I have been in this situation a few times.

Before volleyball Tuesday night I took a few pictures at the Big Gym.

Climbing wall.

The Big Gym is an old navy Quonset hut.

Along with basketball and volleyball there is indoor soccer.

On closer inspection of the goals I see that they were constructed here from 100% copper! These wouldn't last long in the states. They are very heavy and worth whatever copper is going for these days.

That's a lot of money sitting on the floor and I wouldn't want to run into them.

A small but functional facility.

A nice assortment of balls. There is also a badminton and racquetball setup.

August 19, 2012 Sunrise: 12:06 pm Sunset: 1:50 pm I will be up the hill with a beer.

The sun is trying. Photo credit: Matt Nelson

Scott's Discovery Hut is looking lonely. Photo credit: Matt Nelson

McWeirdo

 I have heard several people calling McMurdo 'McWeirdo' recently. It is getting somewhat strange around here. There are a lot of people hibernating and lots of 'drama' unfolding. I have another 74 days to go. Piece of cake!

Fun Facts about Antarctica:

Antarctica is the highest, driest, windiest, emptiest, coldest place on earth. 

An ice sheet covers all but 2.4 percent of Antarctica's 14 million square kilometers.

At its thickest point the ice sheet is 4,776 meters deep and averages 2,160 meters thick. This is 90 percent of all the world's ice and it is 70 percent of all the world's fresh water. 

There are lots of penguins, whales, seals, krill (the main food for whales), and even fish in Antarctica's waters, but there are no land mammals and, as far as scientists know, no native peoples.

Cool McMurdo Dorm Rooms

Compared to my small plain room these are really nice! It is amazing what some people do. All of these dorm rooms are in the main building 155 where the galley and several offices are located. During the summer months they house 4-6 people each. There are community bathrooms down the hall. The nice thing about winter is that everybody gets their own room. Where these people store all of their stuff is beyond me.

A real collector here!

And last but certainly not least...my digs! But it is cozy.

My biking friend Joseph from El Paso Texas sent me this link. Really cool views of several Antarctic spots:

http://maps.google.com/intl/en/help/maps/streetview/gallery.html#!/antarctica

After Friday's storm Saturday was very nice. We all had high expectations for a nice Sunday hike since the temperature had warmed up to -25 degF. Sunday morning was still nice but then the wind steadily picked up and chased everybody inside for the day. So my day was spent doing laundry, cleaning house, and one of my favorites 'reading and napping'. At least I stayed warm for once but it was kind of a boring day though.

My neighbor occasionally sends me 'Blasts from the past' pictures. I really like this one especially with the sun, ocean, beach and my boat. Thanks Chris.

What a nice day! I live 700 feet up from this beach.

My parent's home (the home I grew up in) in Oxnard, California sold in March. My son and I cleaned it out last December after my cross country bicycle ride with my daughter. A coworker of mine in Florida told me one time that he found a picture and small note in the attic of his recently purchased home from the previous owner. What a neat idea I said. So I put the following picture and note in the attic of our family home in Oxnard. I wonder if the new owner has found it yet?

My sister and I. My younger sister sitting next to me is deceased.

We certainly did!