Images of

ANTARCTICA

Abbott peak

Photos © 2002 Seth White

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The last stop was Abbott Peak. Chuck had some GPS items to take care of here, so a short stop was scheduled. This is it: a small cone on the north slope of Erebus. There is a short period seismic station here as well as one of Unavco's GPS sites.

The landing zone here was pretty small. It's not a very big peak at all, and the helo landed very close to the installations themselves. In the background is Fang Ridge on the left and, obviously, Erebus is on the right. This is one of my favorite pictures.
This is the antenna/solar panel mast at Abbott. One of the things we found necessary was to repoint a part of this mast which had spun around, causing an antenna and the solar panel to be aimed in the wrong directions!
The mast again, this time looking north toward Mount Bird. This was the last pic I got while we were on-site. We found that more work existed at this site than we had planned on, and the helo guys were getting really antsy to leave. To their credit, they lent us a hand which was much appreciated (they are not required to assist operations while on the ground). But still, considering the weather delays which kept us from getting here much earlier and especially considering the expense involved in helo-ing a crew to this point to fix the problems, it was pretty annoying to have people breathing down your back to hurry up. If we had forgotten something and left the site with a critical task un-done, it would have been a real waste of time, money, and energy. But Chuck and I (with help from a radio patch to Beth Bartel back in McMurdo) took care of everything and left the site in good shape.
So off we went. Here is a view of Cape Evans (left), Cape Royds (right), the sea ice edge in between.
Pretty much the same things, just a little different view with a glacier near Cape Evans.
A pic looking toward the cockpit in the 212.
Three of the Dellbridge Islands: Big Razorback, Little Razorback, and Tent Island. Almost back to McMurdo....
So here's another one of me in the helo. This day was one that I won't forget. Four sites on Mount Erebus, gorgeous weather, a little time for pictures and sightseeing, and technical success too! But at this point I was absolutely exhausted. Going straight up to LEH at 12,000' from sea level in 25 minutes, then jumping out of the helo and working nonstop for 5 hours took a physical toll. Living at sea level has diminished my tolerance for altitude, but even if we'd started out from Denver it would have been a big endeavor. Especially hiking around in bunny boots and ECW! And the whole time, I also had to be sharp mentally....I didn't want to get up here and have a bad brain day, and overlook or forget something critical. There wouldn't be a second chance to get it right! Dehydration was a problem too - it didn't seem possible to drink enough water. So this is me: fatigued, tired, hungry, thirsty, but satisfied, relaxed, and still awestruck. And happy.