19 December--Miscellanea

Mt Erebus on a quiet day.  Lately they've all become quiet.

 The drives out to Pegasus Airfield are relatively easy.  The bad spots are at the transition from land to the sea ice (near town) and between land near Scott Base and the Ross ice Shelf.  Meltwater pools are forming earlier than people remember.  Currently, both take about the same amount of time, 35 minutes one way.  That will change as the road deteriorates with the warm days.

I'm becoming really attached to our cast-off, hand-me-down Deltas.  They seem unstoppable.  Riders don't like them nearly as much because of the ride back in the passenger box.  It can get pretty rough if you're not constantly looking out for the smoothest road conditions and moving, almost swerving, from side to side in that road like a drunk sailor.  There are days when it reminds me of driving the Parker 400 course again for BLM  --at least when I don't have passengers.  But my goal is to give them the same sort of ride I'd want for my family.

We had a medivac a few days ago from Casey Station, an Australian station not too far away, when their ski-way became flooded from meltwater.  They helicoptered the patient to here and then we flew him out.  It was said to be pneumonia with a collapsed lung.

The Ross Ice Shelf from the Ob Hill Loop Trail.



Sunning on the ice is comparatively warm for the Weddells.

8 October--A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Happy Campers to Happy Camp.  Such a nice group of instructors.  One of them splits his time between here instructing in winter survival and sea ice procedures and back-country ranger/climbing ranger for Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska.  I think that that might be the largest park in the system.  There was a beautiful moment when the clouds were the exact shade of gray of the ice and the only way to distinguish them was a thin slice of the most subtle lesser shade of gray.  Driving I missed the opportunity for the photo.  This place is a black and white, Ansel Adams photography paradise or a minimalist painters heaven.  Often it's all the same and very disorienting.
We later drove 18 people out to the Ice Runway and 102 came in.  Station count must be getting close to 800, perhaps more.

30 September--Deltas!

Lots of training today, but the 2 highlights are beginning training on the Deltas and a trip out to the Ice Runway to pick up people from a C-17 flight.

The Deltas are these huge former Navy vehicles, something like 44,000 pounds.  Replacement cost for these 37 year old behemoths is estimated to be $800, 000.  You climb up a short ladder to get inside the cabin.  The engine is behind that and then comes a large box with bench seats for the passengers.  Some are configured to carry cargo rather than people.  They are articulated between the cabin and the box and this makes it possible to turn in an unlikely radius, basically their own length.  Try that with your SUV!  They are a bit much to handle, but when I get more experience with them, I think that they're going to be the one I'll enjoy driving most.

We had morning training in airfield operations and then we drove out to the Ice Runway.  The C-17 came in but it was obscured by a large snow berm and I hope that later I'll be in a position to see it better.  As it came on to the apron, its size was very apparent, though it's small compared to the C-5s they occasionally fly in.  (The C-5s are supposed to depress the ice 14 inches when they land.)  As the people land and get off they are all bit with the urge to stop, turn around, and take a photo, just like we were the other day.  On an active apron they can't do this and we are supposed to shoe them up to the vehicles for safety.  Still, the urge is there.