Images of

ANTARCTICA

Going Home

Photos © 2002 Seth White

Home

As it turned out, I was delayed 6 days in leaving McMurdo. Flight after flight was cancelled due to weather, and so I had to wait around for my replacement to arrive. It could have been worse - the incoming science tech Laura had done the job last year and so she was familiar with McMurdo life and the experimental systems. So, the turnover with her only took three working days since I just had to brief her on the changes during the past year. But, the delays seemed like an eternity. Six days isn't bad, right? After being at McMurdo for 367 days, what's another six, right? Wrong! The last two weeks I was on station were the first two weeks of mainbody, and so the ravenous hordes had descended on this crusty winterover with ruthless abandon... with their smiles, energy, ambition, goals, and all other insanities. The station was bustling with the familiar summertime activities that I had stepped into when I arrived last year, but the difference was that now I had been there, done that, and was ready to go home. And nearly all my winterover compadres had already left, so I was left to fend for myself. Back, heinous fiends! Right, well anyway the day finally came. With the turnover complete and Laura in charge of the science tech world, I realized that I finally had a day with absolutely zero responsibilities. So I walked around station taking a few last pictures, and surprisingly enough, feeling somewhat nostalgic. We were told to be at the MCC (movement control center) around 6 to board the shuttle to the sea ice runway, but we ended up sitting around for the better part of two hours. Everyone was there, ready to go....except one person. By process of elimination we determined who it was, and began to grumble amongst ourselves. There were only four or five winterovers on the flight that day, and each of us was calling for this person's head. As it turns out, the truant individual was a cook who had come in at Winfly. She had been a complete disaster since day one...basically a menace to entire station. She had FINALLY gotten fired, and was now playing hide-and-seek on the day of her flight out. Teeth gnashed, hands clenched, but still the shuttle did not move as they kept hope alive of finding this idiot. Finally they gave up and we headed for the field. Here is the C17 waiting to take us north. This reminds me of a story I heard from a few years back - that another person with the same idea had climbed Ob Hill on the day of his flight, and that the station manager had to go up there and drag him down. I'm sure you can imagine he was not the life of the party on the flight back. And that reminds me of another thing - on my way down a guy on my flight was so wasted that they basically turned him around from McMurdo on the same plane. I had spoken with him briefly the day before in Auckland, and as it turned out he had actually been to Palmer Station before. On the morning of the flight he showed up still stumbling drunk and reeking of alcohol. Somehow they let him on the plane but when we got to the ice they called his name as we exited the plane. Rumor had it that he was taken to station, tested, and when a bouquet of drugs were found in his system, he got the boot. Well, whatever happened, I never saw him again. Question: do you have to be exceptionally smart or specially talented to get hired by the USAP? Answer: No! Honestly, come on, if they'll hire me as science tech.....

So we got to the passenger terminal at the sea ice runway...and proceeded to wait some more. It turns out there was some large, unwieldy, and very important piece of equipment on board (I think it was for this season's leg of the ITASE traverse). Whatever it was, it was evidently being difficult to unload. So we sat some more. Here's another picture of the plane with a little pallet being loaded on after the offending cargo was unloaded.
So what to do in the meantime? As it turned out, my friend Dan was on this flight. He worked in the galley all year, and taught me to play cribbage along the way. There are a lot of cards played at McMurdo during the winter and cribbage (followed closely by pitch and hearts) is the most popular. He seems to have his cribbage board on his person at all times, so we played a few hands.
Along around 10, we got on the plane. And the C17 is a very impressive plane. Here are the starboard engines.
And here's me, ready to put some miles behind me on the northward voyage (photo by Dan Kifer).
This plane was christened "The Spirit of the Cascades", and flies from McChord AFB.
Right before they closed the door, I took this picture of McMurdoland. Again, a little nostalgic but not too much. Let me reiterate: I was ready to go home!
There were two flights to McMurdo this day: a C141 earlier in the day and this C17. Originally I was supposed to fly out on the 141, but they switched things around and I got the C17. Excellent. I flew down on a 141 and although the flight times in both planes are pretty similar (5.5 hours compared to about 8 for a C130), I wanted to get the C17. The 141 was a quantum leap in Antarctic aviation when it started flying down here. The C17 is phasing out the aging 141 fleet, and it represents a similar increase in capability. It's one of the newest and most sophisticated planes in the US fleet and can carry an unbelievable amount of cargo. The friggin' ceiling in this thing is a good 20 feet off the deck. So here are a couple pictures of the innards. This view is looking foreward. The ladder in the center leads to the cockpit, and the loadmaster is sitting on the right. If I'm remembering correctly, it only takes a pilot, copilot, and loadmaster to fully crew this plane.
More of the C17 interior. This is looking upward, foreward, and to port.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew pulled out their sleeping bags and sprawled out on the floor, and some of the passengers followed suit.
This is a short .avi file I took while wandering around the plane. I couldn't sleep, so I took pictures, played a few more hands of cribbage with Dan, and zoned out.
We finally arrived in Christchurch around 3:30 am. A long day, and we still had to go through processing at the CDC. So here's the plane, landed back in civilization. When you get off the plane in Antarctica, you are greeted by a blast of cold, dry air. When you get off the plane in Christchurch, you are greeted by a blast of warm, humid air. And it was every bit as great a shock to me.
So, after a night's rest at the Windsor, I met up with Dan and my friend Amy, who was the Crary Lab supervisor during the winter. She had gotten off the ice a while back but was staying in NZ for a while. So here they are the the Christchurch Cathederal Square, i.e. the center of town. Two notes: First, "square" in Christchurch is pronounced "squeeee". Second, the staff at the Windsor was first rate. I contracted some mysterious bug, probably from something I ate, that induced me to become extremely ill and hurl in the middle of my second night in ChC. The only thing I had time to do was grab the trash can, and at 2 am I didn't have many options as far as cleaning it out. So it sat there until the morning when a houskeeper graciously assisted me...and lightly admonished me for not calling them in the middle of the night.
Submitted for your approval: the Kiwiburger (note the nice segue from hurl to McDonalds). For no good reason, my first actual meal in ChC was at McDonalds, and I ordered a double quarter pounder with cheese and a massive bucket of fries. And a coke. But, had I seen this poster in time, I would have ordered a Kiwiburger. Yes, there are eggs and beets (beets!) on this burger. Good god! As I write this, I'm sitting in Denver a couple days away from heading back down to the ice. And you better believe I'm going to try one of these concoctions on the way. It's not really fair of me to bash this thing without eating one, but I have a high degree of confidence that I'm not going to like it. It's McDonalds after all...
Whilst milling around town, we came across this store selling RED PARKAS. Here's the photo to prove it.
This is a picture of the Canterbury Museum, located adjacent to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. I can't believe I didn't take more pictures of this area, but I suppose I was overwhelmed by it all. My first day off the ice, I was essentially a wide-eyed, slack-jawed, gaping idiot as I walked around the city. Sounds, smells, animals, heterogeneously-dressed people, kids, traffic, and warm, humid air were about all I could handle. But it was a great feeling. After I got done with processing at the CDC upon landing in Christchurch, I walked out, knelt down, and smelled the grass. They had just cut it that day.
At the Canterbury Museum, they have a great permanent Antarctic exhibit. I checked it out one day and was impressed. They have a separate window display dedicated to each of the significant expeditions in the Ross Sea region in the early part of the century. Here's the one for Amundsen.
To me, the best thing at this exhibit was this: one of Amundsen's sledges. After reading six books about the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, I have become more and more impressed with Amundsen and his men. One little fact about their expedition is that they realized from experience gained during their first summer that they could significantly lighten their sledges and still have sufficient strength to withstand a long journey. So while Scott basically frittered away his winter, among numerous other critical tasks Amundsen's men spent countless hours during the winter working on these sledges to save precious weight.
Here's the display for Scott's Discovery expedition.
And the one for the Terra Nova expedition.
Here's an interesting piece of history: some skis from Scott's Discovery expedition, personally donated to the Canterbury Museum by Scott himself. Hardly used....
This is the display for Shackleton's Nimrod expedition of 1908.
And the one for his famous Endurance expedition.
In 1908, Shackleton tried using a motor sledge to help haul some of the heavy load. Like Scott's motor sledge to follow, it didn't work. But here it is - pretty incredible that this has survived.
During the winter of the Nimrod expedition, Shackleton's men published a book called the Aurora Australis. The museum has an original copy, but this isn't it...
This is something I didn't expect to see - a relic from the Erebus, one of the ships Ross sailed when he discovered the Ross Sea and Ross Island.
The museum also had some newer items, from the Fuchs-Hillary Trans-Antarctic Expedition. This is a Tucker Sno Cat used during the first crossing of the Antarctic Continent.
The Sno-Cat's track.
According to the sign, this Ferguson tractor was the first (land) vehicle to reach the South Pole, during the TAE.
The next day we drove over to the port city of Lyttleton, about 20 miles or so from Christchurch. This is the port from where three expeditions (both of Scott's and one of Shackleton's) set sail for Antarctica. The timber that this placque rests on is evidently from one of the old piers that was used in those days.
To our surprise, the Nathaniel B. Palmer was docked at Lyttleton. We couldn't get any closer than this, and we didn't know anyone to give us a tour. Due to the rough ice conditions this year, the Palmer never made it into McMurdo.
The next day I was due to head back to the US. So after we went to a party at Hayley's house in Christchurch (she was one of two Kiwis working for the USAP during the winter) I said goodbye to Dan and Amy and headed back to the Windsor. Passing through the International Antarctic Center (IAC), commonly known as the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC), I noticed these markers.
The one mounted on the rock is a tribute to those who have died on the ice since the inception of Operation Deep Freeze. Most recent on this placque is Chuck Gallagher, after whom Gallagher's bar at McMurdo is named.
As you walk the kilometer from the CDC to the actual Christchurch airport, there are shoeprints spray-painted on the sidewalk to guide you. Every now and then there will be a couple of these: penguin prints. Nice touch.
So after the interminable 11.5 hour flight from Auckland to Los Angeles, it was a short hop to Denver. Home at last. Here's my mom, who was waiting to pick me up at the airport :-).