Wednesday, January 1, 2014

McMurdo

After a few delays, we’ve made it to Antarctica, aka “The Ice”.  After the breakdown of our first plane, our hopes were subdued on Tuesday.  We got to the terminal, passed through security, and loaded onto a bus.  The bus took us to a different airplane this time, so things were looking up.

Then the bus turned around.  I think it was long delayed karmic revenge on tempting my brother with cake and then snatching it away, when I was a kid.  After a couple of gloomy hours waiting in the terminal, we loaded back into the bus and were taken to the first plane (the one with the broken engine 24 hours previous).  As we loaded, I was positive that we would soon be herded back off.  Sometimes I love being wrong.

The plane was noisy, hot, and bounced around a lot, but I got a bit more legroom than I’m used to, and the view was second to none.  We were free to roam the plane, and the sights from the cockpit were astounding!  We first reached the ice shelf, breaking up in the summer warmth.  Next we reached the mountains, absolutely gorgeous and shrouded in snow.  This was soon forgotten as the crew had one more a treat for us. 

There’s a volcano near
McMurdo station, Mount Erebus, around which the pilot flew a low, slow circle(I took a video of it, I will post it upon my return to civilization).  The volcano was smoking, and we flew at about the height of the peak.  It was amazing, and only slightly terrifying (which is fitting, as Mount Erebus shares Ross Island with the inactive volcano Mount Terror. 

We soon landed and disembarked, but I  hadn’t touched the continent just yet.  The runway is built on the ice shelf, and the plane uses skis to land.  It as a remarkably smooth landing, and we were soon blinking in the bright sun at 11:00pm.  We were bussed up to the station, got our first of many safety briefings, grabbed a bite to eat, and finally fell asleep.


-Andrew



No comments:

Post a Comment