Adam On Ice

New Zealand

2007-12-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm off the Ice now. If you haven't heard, the PhD didn't work out, so I'm done with Antarctica. It was a great experience though.

The good thing about leaving was that I got to travel New Zealand for a week. We got back to Christchurch at about 9 pm, and I got to see 2 things I hadn't seen in 2 months - darkness and rain. It was a nice change. My first big challenge was the car. They drive on the left side in New Zealand, so I had to learn quickly and in a big city. It wasn't too difficult, but I had to really think about turning into the left lane. And then there's the roundabouts. These things are a little scary. You have to yield to people already in the roundabout then drive around in a circle until your turn comes up. It was good that my first roundabout was in a smaller town, so I could practice before I got back to the big city.

My first stop was Kaikoura, a nice little town about 225 km up the east coast from Christchurch. The drive was really nice and green (another nice change from the Ice). There were sheep everywhere situated in the valleys between large grassy hills. It was all very pastoral. Then I came out of the hills and there was the ocean. New Zealand has the bluest water I've ever seen and the mountains come right down to the water. I went to Kaikoura for a pelagic bird trip. I went out an pretty small boat, which was a little tough on my stomach since the water was a little rough, but it was worth it as I saw my first albatross along with several other sea birds. There was also a New Zealand fur seal colony in town. The next day I was off across the mountains to the west coast. Almost everywhere on the South Island is in the mountains, and the main highways are 2 lanes and very curvy. You definitely had to pay attention to the road, but the scenery made it difficult. On the other side of Lewis Pass, I drove through Buller Gorge, across to Westport, then down to Punakaiki. Punakaiki lies right next to Paparoa National Park and has the Pancake Rocks. The rock formations all along the coast are amazing, but these are really neat because they were laid down in layers and, well, look like pancakes (kind of). And when the swell comes in, the water shoots up through holes and out at the top of the formations.

I stayed in Greymouth, home of Monteith's beer, then headed down the coast to Queenstown that night. The west coast has some spectacular scenery. I stopped in Hokitika to pick up some jade carvings, for which New Zealand is known, then stopped at Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers. Both of these glaciers come down steep valleys out of the Southern Alps and are pretty dramatic. I crossed from Westland into Otago and it became much drier and less steep. The Otago region is home to a lot of the wineries and there were also a lot of apple and cherry orchards. I really liked Queenstown. It only has about 7500 people (moderate size by New Zealand standards) but a lively nightlife and plenty of outdoor activities nearby. I think bungy jumping was invented near Queenstown. Anyway, I didn't do much around Queenstown, but it was worth the stop. The next day, I drove to Dunedin, home of New Zealand's Cadbury factory (produces 85% of NZ's chocolate) and Speight's beer (beer is a big thing in NZ). However, I went for the birds (of course). Taiaroa Head is at the very end of the Otago Peninsula and has the only mainland breeding colony of albatross in the world (Royal Albatross). There are also thousands of other seabirds that nest on the cliffs. I hated to do it, but I paid $30 to go see the albatrosses. The colony has about 150 birds in it, but from the observatory I could only see 4 - a bit of a disappointment.

The next day as I left Dunedin headed for Mt. Cook, the weather had turned overcast. After 4 days of sun and 70 degree days, the weather had to turn bad when I was going to see the highest point in Australasia. It was cloudy almost the whole way there, but as I entered the valley leading to the visitor center, the skies parted and the mountains poked their heads out. So, I got some good views of Mt. Cook and the surrounding mountains. Then it was back to Christchurch for the next day's flight - about 27 hours of travel, 19 of those on a plane. It was a great week, but I didn't get to see as much as I had hoped. I guess I'll just have to go back.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. Not much has been going on here besides the usual work and surveys.

However, this week was Thanksgiving. Thursday night, we ate at camp and had a nice dinner of salmon, halibut, steak, corn, asparagus, cheesy bread, and pumpkin pie. Not a bad meal for 2 Coleman stoves and a Coleman oven. I wish I had pictures from camp, but I have gotten them from Steen yet. We even had our turkey decorations and our glass ice skating penguin centerpiece. Then we came into town Friday night because Sascha and I were planning on running in the 5k Turkey Trot. So after a late Friday night (we got to bed at about 4 am), we got up at 8:30 on Saturday to go run. I was running 3 miles before I left, but that was a few months ago and in the warm weather. I checked out the weather before we left and it said that it was 28 degrees, but when we got outside, we realized that there was about a 10-15 mph wind and we needed another layer of clothes. I didn't do too bad for running on snow and ice and finished in about 35 minutes.

That afternoon, we had thanksgiving dinner. They really fix up the galley for this with linens on the table and everything. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, and dressing, of course, but we also had green bean casserole, homemade rolls, salad and fresh vegetables (a luxury down here), and a big dessert table with cream puffs, chocolate cake and chocolate cream pie. Definitely a pretty good meal for Antarctica standards.

That's about it. We have today off, so I will probably just lunge around and watch movies all day, then back to camp tonight. We're winding down with the field work and only have 2 more surveys to do. It's going to be nice to get back to trees, warmer weather, and the comforts of home. It's definitely an amazing place down here, but it will be nice to get home.

My First Time Ice Fishing

2007-11-14T11:55:00.000-08:00

So a couple of nights ago, we were all sitting in the kitchen hut after dinner and had just pulled out the freshly baked cookies (thanks Jen) when there was a knock on the door. Isn't it funny how visitors come at the most opportune times? Anyway, it was a couple of the guys that are doing some fish research down here, and they stopped by to ask us if we wanted to go fishing with them. After some hot chocolate and cookies, we went and suited up for a snowmobile ride. Luckily, the fish hut was only about a 5 minute ride from camp. Of course, as soon as we open the door there's a seal using our hole. This wasn't promising, since the fish we were after is the main prey for Weddell seals. But we fished anyway. Now, this was high tech equipment. I was using a Sponge Bob Squarepants rod, while Derek had the Scooby-Doo rod. They get some salt in the reel and don't exactly let out line very well, but when your quarry is about 6 inches long, it doesn't take much. So, our rig consisted of a couple of sinkers at the end of the line, a hook a few inches up with a small chunk of fish and/or a chartreuse grub, then sometimes a glowstick a few inches above that. We would drop it down to the bottom (about 70 ft), then jig it a little, reel it up a few cranks, jig it some more, a few more cranks, so on and so forth until we were back to the surface. So, as I said before, seals equal bad for fishing. We didn't catch what we were going for, but we did catch a few emerald rock cod off the bottom. It wasn't the most rewarding fishing trip, but it was fun. And now I can say I've been fishing in Antarctica.

Elan Says There Aren't Enough Baby Seal Pictures

2007-11-05T13:04:00.001-08:00

So here they are.

Beard Progress

2007-11-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd start a new thing and show the progress of my beard through my time here in Antarctica. It's kind of the thing to do - grow a beard - and a lot of people that don't normally have one will grow one when they come down here. And it helps keep your face warm. So I'll try to find some pics from the last month to show the progression of hairiness.

#1 - Oct 3, 2007 - About to step off the plane into Antarctica for the first time. 2 days old. (Don't mind my fat face, it's all squished in my balaclava - or maybe it's just fat. Either way, don't mind it.)

#2 - Oct 7, 2007 - Random beard picture #1. 6 days old.

#3 - Oct 21, 2007 - Weather day, random beard picture #2. 20 days old.

#4 - Oct 27, 2007 - Halloween Party. 26 days old.

#5 - Nov 6, 2007 - Random beard picture #3. 36 days old.

I'll try to have another picture in a few days.

There was a slight breeze today

2007-11-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

And by slight breeze, I mean 50 mph sustained winds with gusts around 70 mph.

The day started off pretty normal - clear skies, a slight breeze. Kelly and Steen went on a helicopter flight, while Jen, Derek, and I went out to weigh a few pups and tag some adults (Sascha has been in town for 3 days quarantined with the flu). Well, about 10:30 or so, the wind started to pick up, but it still wasn't too bad - probably around 20 mph. We went back to camp to eat lunch and because Derek, Kelly, and Jen were supposed to go on a flight this afternoon, but Kelly called from town and said that the flight was cancelled and a big storm was coming in. We looked out the window to the south and there was a big wall of blowing snow. The winds had really started to pick up, but we went back out in the field to finish up a few odds and ends (and there was a penguin close to camp, but we got there too late). The ride to Turk's Head was pretty bad and visibility had gotten much worse and winds were around 40 mph. After all that driving, it turns out there were no animals to tag, so we decided to go to another spot. On the ride back, we decided that we should head back to camp.

Back at camp, it took 3 of us to put the cover on one snowmobile. The wind would push us around so that you would have to run in order to not fall down. And if you were on the ice, you would just slide along until you fell down or ran into something. Me - I ran into the pisten bully with my shin. And my sunglasses were blown away by a big gust. I felt them go, turned around, and they were nowhere to be seen. We left for town about 5 minutes later, and Jen joked about them blowing across the road in front of us. Not 10 seconds later, I see them in the road 200 yards from where I lost them, 90 degrees from the direction of the wind. I took my foot off the gas and tried to hit the brakes, so as not to run over them, but there are no brakes in a pisten bully. Luckily, they don't go very far when you don't give them gas. So, my sunglasses are safely back on my head and we're safely in town. I've added a video of all the mayhem, but I don't think it will do it justice. As some reference, hurricane force winds are technically at 74 mph and I know we hit at least 72 mph today.

Finally, Penguins!

2007-11-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

I finally saw a penguin after being in Antarctica for a month. Yesterday, after eating an early dinner, we drove north on the sea ice to try to get to the sea ice edge and to see the Adelie penguin rookery at Cape Royds. Technically, we're not supposed to use our snowmobiles for anything but work, so we also stopped to look at a few seals along the way. Our first stop was Barne Glacier. You might remember this from my Sea Ice course. Well, yesterday, we actually went up to the glacier and got some pictures and took a little ice off the ground for camp. Nothing like several thousand year old air to add a little something to your drink. Next, was the penguin rookery. We stopped but didn't see anything at first until Kelly pointed out all of the penguins along the top of the rocks. They were all putting on their dances for the females. Every once in a while, a group of 2 or 3 would walk or slide by about 50-100 feet away. But not one...more on that in a little bit. Supposedly the ice edge is just past Cape Royds, and we were expecting to get there and find snow petrels and leopard seals. But no luck. We got to some thinner ice but could still never see the edge. It started to look a little sketchy so we drilled to see how thick the ice was. Turns out it was only about 2 feet thick. If you remember, we need at least 30 inches, so we turned around and headed back. On the way, we stopped again at the rookery, and as we were watching 3 penguins walk by, I looked over and saw one heading straight towards us. I just sat there and watched it as it walked within 5 feet of me like I wasn't even there. Unfortunately, it didn't stop so I only got 1 good picture. And that was about it. Glaciers, penguins, and thin ice. One of Ernest Shackelton's huts is at Cape Royds, but I think we're saving that for another trip.

Halloween

2007-10-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

We came into town for the Halloween party last night. A good chance to relax, have fun, and not think about seals. Check, check, and check. It turns out that my costume kind of tanked. I decided that I really didn't want to carry the guitar around, and with only a vest, it wasn't much of a costume. We decided that instead of going as John Denver, I was going as John Denver's vest. Derek was supposed to be Vanilla Ice, shaved stripes in the hair and everything, but the gear issue room was limited on costumes (hence, me going as John Denver's vest). So all Derek got was a baby blue sport coat and a sparkly women's blouse that was skin tight. Jen went as a pirate, and Sascha was supposed to be a nurse but we decided she looked more like a lunch lady.

Costumes aside, we decided to head to the party. The day started off wonderfully (well, besides the working part). It was a little cloudy but 12 F with hardly any wind. However, as soon as we got into town, a large gray sheet of clouds was approaching town. We came in, got dinner, changed, etc., and by the time we headed to the gym for the party, the wind had kicked up and it had gotten a lot colder. And of course we left our jackets inside because it was much better than trying to find them in a huge pile of red jackets. So we finally made it to the party, danced, had fun, yada, yada, yada. It's an interesting dynamic down here. All of these people that would probably never get together if they weren't stuck on an island 2500 miles from the nearest anything, having a great time all in the name of dressing up and getting free candy. I hung out with everyone from scientists to pilots to carpenters to mountaineers last night. It's kind of strange.

The good thing about not living in town is that we get Midrats cards. Midrats is the midnight meal for all the night shift workers and it usually consists of pretty good food. So we had our midnight meal, and moved the party to the room for a little while. This morning was great because it was Sunday, and Sunday at McMurdo means brunch. And we just got a flight in, which means fresh fruit. Melons, apples, oranges, breakfast burritos with refried beans, home fries, and eggs, cinnamon rolls. As you can tell, we don't go hungry down here. If it weren't for the cold temperatures and all the walking and seal wrangling, I would come back to the states a fatter man. So today is movie/laundry day. We're just going to lounge around and enjoy our day off.

Snow Craft II - How To Get Yourself Out of a Crevasse

2007-10-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

I got to come in to town today for the Snow Craft II course, which consisted of some basic mountaineering techniques such as walking on ropes, traversing steep or snow covered slopes, stopping falls, and getting yourself out of a crevasse, if you happen to fall in one. We started out inside learning some knots, how to tie in to the rope and your harness, and how to ascend a rope using Prusik knots. We then went outside to get some hands on experience in the snow. We first tied in to the rope in groups of 4 then belayed each other across an "unknown" area of snow that could possibly contain a crevasse. Of course we didn't actually do this. The area we were at was known to not have any crevasses, but use your imagination. We learned how to kick step so that your uphill leg doesn't get tired from doing all the work, and it leaves a good platform for the person behind you to follow. Then the fun part. We got to play in the snow. We learned how to stop ourselves in case we ever started sliding down a slope. We went down on or fronts, our back, head first, feet first, and the whole goal is to get on you stomach with your head uphill so you can kick your feet into the snow and stop yourself. But to us it was, just sledding without the sled (see video). That was about it, but it sure beat Snow Craft I (aka Happy Camper).

Weather Day

2007-10-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm stuck inside today because of the weather. There's some blue sky poking through every once in a while, but on the ground the visibility is pretty low. We got quite a bit of snow last night and it drifted in a few spots around camp. Now it's just a waiting game. The girls already left for town, and us guys are going in in the morning for Snow Craft II - ropes, crevasses, etc. I did get some pictures yesterday of us trying to get the females on the scale using the pups as a lure. And of course one that I had to drag around was very content in rolling around in his own poo, which ended up all over me. I guess that just comes with the territory. So, not much to write about today, but the Halloween party is Saturday night, which should provide for some good pictures. I was scrounging around in the gear issue room (where they have the skis and stuff for rent) looking for a costume and came across a corduroy, wool-lined vest. I was inspired and decided to be John Denver. I also picked up a guitar and am learning a few of his songs in case anyone asks me to play. But the guitar is pretty bad and won't stay in tune. I'm just missing a shaggy, blonde wig. And there was a sign on the way out of the gear issue room - on the wall next to the door was a clock with John Denver on it.

I Should Join the Rodeo

2007-10-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days since I've written, so I thought I'd fill you in a little.

Not much has gone on lately. the last couple of days have been beautiful. Around 5 F with no wind and sunny skies. Today, however, was a bit windy. There were no gusts like the other night (67 mph - this year's record so far), but it was a constant 40 mph wind. ALL DAY. It was sunny, though, so I guess it could have been worse. Then I came into town to run a few errands and got some frostnip on my cheek. I warmed it back up, and all's well now.

I've mostly been tagging the last few days, but yesterday I got to hogtie a seal pup. OK, I guess I should explain. We try to weigh certain females at post-partruition and post-weaning, but to do this, we have to get them on the weigh sled (essentially a big scale we can drag around behind the snowmobiles - see picture). So we get everything in place, then grab the pup by the back flippers and slowly drag it towards the scale to entice the female. Once we get the pup on the sled, we loop a rope around its flippers and leave it on the scale while we hide so the female will (hopefully) get up on the scale. It doesn't always go so smoothly. As my last post noted, pups are squirmy and also heavy (about 50-60 lbs when we're doing this) and pretty strong. So you try to drag the pup but not too fast, while keeping the rope somewhat tight around its flippers so it doesn't come off, all in 15 lbs of clothes. It's definitely a work out. I wish I had pictures, but there's not much standing around to do and, therefore, not many picture opportunities.

Seal Pups Are Very Squirmy

2007-10-13T23:37:00.000-07:00

So you'd think that a furry, weak seal pup would be pretty easy to grab a hold of and tag, but you'd be wrong. The last couple of days, we've started tagging some seals. I've tagged about 4 pups so far, and though I'm getting the hang of it, they're not so easy to hold on to. First, we get all the tags ready away from the seals so they don't get worked up. Then someone goes in to distract the female so she doesn't get too close to the tagger. The tagger tries to quickly tag the pup with 2 tags. Easy enough, you say. Not so. The pups are about 50 lbs at even a couple of days old and they're pretty strong. Then we have gloves on, add a little snow, and they're mighty hard to get a tag in. Meanwhile, you're trying to keep an eye on the 800 lb. female that wants you to get away and will bite you if necessary. It makes for a pretty stressful couple of minutes. Other than that, we've flagged some roads, and today I weighed a couple of pups. This entails dragging the pup away from the female by its back flippers, then throwing a duffle bag over its head, rolling it on its back, zipping up the duffle bag, and weighing the thing. It's actually much easier than tagging the things, at least while they're only 50-60 lbs. When we have to do the same thing to a 300 lb pup, I might change my tune. Also, we stopped in a hut to have lunch today, and when we stepped out of the hut to leave, the visibility had dropped to about 1/4 mile. Instead of finishing the rest of the day's work, we headed back to camp. Better to have more work tomorrow than fall in a crack. So that's been it so far. I'm sure more pups will start showing up soon and we'll have our hands full. Until then, I've nothing left to say.

Except that, I've added a video of the Big Razorback seal colony from the helicopter flight.

Home Sweet Home

2007-10-12T01:01:00.000-07:00

We finally made it out of town. Wednesday morning we came out to help the carpenters set up camp, and we moved out for good Wednesday night. We've got 4 little fishing huts out next to Big Razorback Island - a kitchen hut, 2 sleep huts, and an equipment hut. Thursday was kind of a slow day because of some high winds and low visibility. The wind would almost pick me up off my feet, and on ice it makes it hard to move around sometimes. But, we did make out to look at a few seals. Today, the weather was perfect, and we got a quick course on reading the cracks and how to walk around in the pressure ridges, which are the upheavings of ice where 2 plates of ice push together. Then I went on my first helicopter ride to look at the study area from above. This gives us an idea of where the seals are congregating and is much faster than doing it on snowmobiles. I was a little nervous about whether I would get sick, but the ride was about as smooth as you could get. It was amazing being able to get above everything and see the full picture. After the helo ride, we came back and took a quick snowmobile ride around Tent Island to look at the seals. We found a few new pups and learned how to tag. And our camp now has internet and phone. Can you believe that? Phone and internet in the middle of sea ice in Antarctica. Crazy! Tomorrow, I'm sure we'll get out and look around a few of the other islands. Sorry for the brevity, but I'm not really in the typing mood. I'll report back in a few days.

Watch Out For That Crack

2007-10-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

It's finally starting to slow down around, at least regarding my training. I had my last 2 yesterday and today. Yesterday was my sea ice course. In this course we learned the different types of ice and how the ice moves around and forms cracks and pressure ridges. Then we went out on the sea ice and profiled some cracks. These form in the same way that a rift forms between tectonic plates. As the 2 chunks of sea ice float apart, sea water fills in the crack and freezes. Then the chunks move farther apart and it freezes again, and so on and so forth. In order to profile a crack, you must first remove the snow off the ice, then drill a series of holes through the ice across the crack. As you reach the middle of the crack, the ice will be the thinnest because it is the newest. In order to cross a crack, the ice must be at least 30" thick, and if it's not, the section that is less than 30" thick must be less than 1/3 the length of the track of the vehicle you are driving. For example, if you are driving a Hagglund, the track length is 6' so the effective crack width must be less than or equal to 2'. For a 60" snowmobile track, the effective width must be 20" or less. Drilling holes in the ice was not too bad, but the definite highlight of the trip was stopping at Barnes Glacier. We got within about 200 yards of it.

This morning, I had snowmobile training. It turns out, the driving portion of the course won't be until after we are out at camp, so I get to learn on the fly. Instead, we just learned inside and how to troubleshoot any problems. Down here, there are always problems with equipment. The cold makes it tough to start things and the ice and rocks rattle bolts and screws loose. Before every trip we have to go through a checklist on all the vehicles to make sure they are in good condition. Tonight, I took an Outdoor Safety Lecture in order to be able to hike around McMurdo. It was kind of pointless considering I have already had at least 2 or 3 other classes that went over the same topics - frostbite, hypothermia, watching the weather, etc. But, it enabled Derek and I to hike to the top of Ob(servation) Hill, which overlooks town. The view was great, but the wind was bitter and the hike was misleading. Come to think of it, everything around here is misleading. The air is so clean and and you can see forever. In this picture, Mt. Erebus is about 35 miles away and it is about 13,000 feet tall. It looks only a few miles away. The Transantarctic Range on the other side of the sound only look maybe 5-10 miles away but they're at least 25. So, Ob Hill looks pretty wimpy compared to everything else, but it's not. It's steep, rocky, and icy, and with 10 lbs worth of boots and other heavy clothes, it gets difficult. Well, we made it, and the view was worth it.

So, they're pulling camp out to the site tomorrow and we'll probably head out tomorrow night after we get our snowmobiles for our first night on the ice. I won't have internet access for a few days, but I'll get another post up as soon as I can.

Happy Camper, really!?! Happy!?!

2007-10-06T13:49:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from Snow Craft 1, aka Happy Camper, course. In this class we had to learn how to survive for a few days in Antarctica until someone finds us or we die. Because, let's face it, if you aren't picked up after a couple of days, the chances of making it much longer are pretty slim. We started out in the classroom learning about how to recognize and treat frostbite and hypothermia, then we headed out in a shuttle to our campsite on the sea ice. We started in the "warm" (probably around freezing) instructors' hut where we learned how to light the stove and how to fix it if it wasn't working. Then we moved outside to set up camp.

We first set up the Scott tents then started to quarry snow to build a wall to protect us from the winds and blowing snow. The snow is extremely packed together and is almost like ice, so we could cut blocks with a saw then pop them out with a shovel. We learned how to set up a standard mountain tent, build a quinzy (a hollowed out mound of snow), and dig a trench to sleep in. After all our instruction for the day, the instructors left us alone to fend for ourselves. Of course, they were only a short walk away in the "warm" instructors' hut. The rest of the night, most people just kept digging or ran around to keep warm. I had planned on sleeping in the quinzy with another person, but we dug and dug for about 8 hrs until 1 AM when we decided to give up. It was big enough for 1, so I decided to just sleep in a mountain tent. I was sweating some while I was digging and was pretty warm in the sleeping bag, but taking off my outer layers to get in the tent was hard. You get cold very quickly down here and it's hard to warm back up. I took a hot water bottle to bed with me, which helped a lot. Unfortunately, my bladder didn't cooperate and I had to visit the "pee flag" twice during the night. That was really hard, and I was having trouble getting my boots off because my hands weren't working very well. That really made me appreciate the pee bottle. I will definitely keep one nearby from now on so I don't have to get out of bed when it's -25 F. The next morning, we broke camp, learned how to use the radios, searched for someone in a whiteout condition (i.e. with a bucket over our heads), and headed back to McMurdo. The official low for the night was -23 F, but the next morning, the wind chill at McMurdo was -51 F and probably around -60 F at camp. It makes you appreciate the landscape, weather, clothes, and knowledge needed to survive down here. And how quickly you could be dead. But we made it, albeit a little uncomfortably. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but cameras don't like to work in such cold temperatures.

It's Really White

2007-10-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

I finally made it. I'm in Antarctica. I guess I should start from the beginning. I arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand on Oct 1 (New Zealand time), which is Sep 30 for most people reading this. We didn't do too much on Monday, just relaxed and got some rest. I walked around the park next to the hotel and did some birding. You know, in the cities at least, New Zealand doesn't look to different from the states, except that people drive on the left and talk a little different. Tuesday morning we all went to the Antarctic Center and tried on all of our clothes. What surprises me most is that most of it is pretty standard stuff you could get just about anywhere - long underwear, fleece, bibs, and a down coat. We have several types of gloves and a couple of hats, but it's really not a lot of clothes.

We took off this morning at about 9 after arriving to check our bags and get dressed at 6. We had to wear or have in our carry-on a knit hat, goggles, bibs, boots, and parka. The flight was on a C-17 and took about 5 1/2 hours. The cargo plane was actually pretty comfortable though a bit loud. There were only 4 tiny windows so we couldn't watch as we flew, so when we landed the first step out of the plane was something to see. We landed on the sea ice and were surrounded by mountains with McMurdo nearby. And surprisingly, it's not too cold. Well, at least today. I don't know the temperature, but without the wind, it's like a winter day in the states. But sunglasses are a must. I'm off to dinner right now, but I'll report back in a few days after Happy Camper School.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2007-09-28T10:31:00.001-07:00

The time has finally arrived. I'm leaving for Antarctica tomorrow. I still don't think it has sunk in that I'm going to Antarctica for 2 1/2 months despite all the moving, planning, and packing. I'm glad to nearly be done packing. You don't realize all the little things you need to take until you're going to a place where you can't just go to the store. Anyway, I don't know that I have much to say about all of this but felt obligated to write one more post before I leave, so wish me luck and see you in a few months.

Where Am I!?!

2007-09-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

The title has a couple of meanings. First, physical location. BTW, I don't know how to add a link to some maps of Antarctica and where I'll be, so this seemed like the next best idea. If you don't already know (as some people surprisingly don't), Antarctica is south. Waaay south. Like, 10,000-miles-from-Washington, DC south. I've tried to show where other continents and New Zealand are for some reference in the map to the right, and the red box highlights the area where I will be - Ross Island.

The next map shows where McMurdo Station is located at the southern end of Ross Island on Hut Point Peninsula. An interesting feature on Ross Island is Scott's Hut. Scott's Hut is kind of a base camp from which a British expedition set off to the South Pole. It was built in 1911 and abandoned in 1913, but because of the cold temperatures it is still in pretty good condition. There is still some 100 year old seal blubber hanging from the ceiling!

And finally, a detailed map of the study area. Our camp will be located right next to Big Razorback Island and the seal colonies are scattered from the Hutton Cliffs area to Cape Evans.

Second, my brain is fried. I've been doing everything from packing to getting my plane tickets to forwarding my mail, and I'm tired of it all. It takes a lot of planning to go to Antarctica. I can take 2 70-lb bags on international flights, but only 1 50-lb bag to Antarctica. Some of my stuff can be left in New Zealand, but of course, my winter clothes - the heavy stuff - has to go with me. I'm going to need a scale to pack! Anyway, I guess I'm in good shape if trying to pack for Antarctica is the worst of my problems.

The worst part of this trip is definitely going to be the flight(s). I'm leaving Nashville at 2:25 PM CDT on the 29th and arriving in Christchurch at 10:20 AM NZT on October 1 nearly 30 hours later. And I will never get back September 30, 2007. It will forever be lost in the wormhole that is the International Date Line. Note to self: Add sleeping pills to my packing list.

When did I accumulate all this junk!?!

2007-09-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

I've put it off and put it off thinking Antarctica was oh so far away, but the time has arrived. I received an e-mail yesterday regarding what to bring, when we'll be leaving, and so forth, and Elan put things into perspective when she told me that I'll be in Antarctica in 3 weeks. So now I have to pack up all my stuff to move home and, at the same time, try to keep things I will be taking with me to Antarctica seperate. Meanwhile, I have work to do and worst of all, my iPod broke.

Now, I'm not one of those people that have their earphones glued to their head at all times, oblivious to the world around them. In fact, those people kind of annoy me. But, nevertheless, 2 weeks before a 16+ hour flight to New Zealand and 2 1/2 months on a frozen rock is not the time for my iPod to give up on me. I've done my fair share of crossword puzzles and sudoku, but 16 hours adds up to a lot of puzzles. I guess I could spend the time browsing through SkyMall and dreaming of the day I could own my very own Sopwith propeller. So I'm going to the Apple Store to have them take a look at my iPod, and, hopefully, they will fix it or just give me a new one. Either way, it beats staring at the seat in front of me.

Welcome!!!

2007-09-04T08:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog! This is my attempt at cutting down on all of the pictures and e-mails I'll have to send while in Antarctica. I'll be adding to this shortly to give everyone some background on my trip to "The Ice." I guess some very brief background is in order.

About 3 months ago I was accepted into a PhD program at Montana State University under Dr. Jay Rotella to work on population dynamics of Weddell seals. Weddell seals only live in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctica, so that means I get to go to Antarctica for my field work. Not a bad deal! It beats sitting at the computer like my master's work. So I leave on Oct 1 for L.A. and then Christchurch, New Zealand, where I will stay for a couple of days to receive some training and my 30 lbs of clothes issued to me by the U.S. government. From there, it's off to McMurdo Station in Antarctica and whatever awaits me. Here's a link to the project website, and I'll be adding more in the next few days.

http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~rgarrott/antarctica/project_description.htm

http://www.gdargaud.net/Antarctica/Life/WeddellSeal.jpg