When we left McMurdo it was a fairly overcast day. We returned to Pegasus Field (the same airstrip on which we arrived on the C-17) and boarded a C-130 Hercules to fly to the pole.

Three C-130’s side-by-side at the airfield. They are the only heavy-lift aircraft equipped with skis in the world and they are operated by the New York Air National Guard.

The C-130 as we boarded the plane.

Soon after we took off I saw something in the snow from the window and I took a photograph of it. When I zoomed in on the photo I discovered that it was a crashed plane!

“The Pegasus” wreck (in upper left part of the photo) from the air.

It turns out that what I had photographed was “The Pegasus.” “The Pegasus” was a C-121 Lockheed Constellation aircraft which crashed on Oct 8, 1970 in horrendous weather. None of the 80 people on board were injured. The plane had passed the “PSR” (“Point of Safe Return”). Many of the planes which fly from New Zealand to McMurdo do not have enough fuel to get back to New Zealand if they cannot land at McMurdo, so a decision gets made mid-flight whether or not it is safe to proceed to McMurdo. Because the weather in McMurdo is so changeable, “boomerangs” back to New Zealand are quite common. I have actually boomeranged twice in my six trips to Antarctica. In fact, once we must have come close to passing the “PSR” because we ended up having to land in Dunedin (on the southern tip of New Zealand), since we did not have enough fuel to safely get back to the more northern Christchurch airport.

And that’s how the ice runway being used at McMurdo is called “Pegasus”, named in honor of this crashed plane.

A close-up of the Pegasus wreck. Photo courtesy of sandwichgirl.

Another view of the wreck. Photo courtesy of sandwichgirl.

For more on the plane and its story, click here.

As we flew onward, I took a photograph of a GPS. It is roughly a 3-hour flight, and as you can see, we were indeed headed southwards.

The weather at the South Pole was great. Having just arrived, here I am (in the middle) with colleagues, some who are leaving and others who are arriving.

Soon after I arrived, I took this photograph of a spectacular sundog (caused by ice crystals in the air). You can see part of the “parhelion” (the horizontal line), which was particularly bright on this day.

As you can tell, it can be an adventure getting to the pole. For me, everything went on schedule, and it still took a week! Now it’s been several days since I arrived, and the weather in McMurdo has been pretty bad of late. A C-17 boomeranged from Christchurch to McMurdo a couple of days ago, and additional attempts yesterday and today have had to be canceled due to weather. The flights from McMurdo to the South Pole have also had to be canceled due to weather – they have been trying hard to get a flight to pole because there is a person here who got sick and they need to do an emergency medical evacuation but they have so far been unable to. It looks like a plane just took off again headed this way, so I hope the folks waiting to leave will get out of here tonight. Currently IceCube has close to 10 people trying to fly to Antarctica from New Zealand, and close to 10 people trying to get to New Zealand from either McMurdo or the South Pole.

MCMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA– The problem with going to remote places is that no one wants to come pick you up. As of the 13th, we had a plan for finishing the survey, getting all the science personnel out of AGAP and leaving Antarctica on the HERC flight that left at 7am yesterday. Reality is: not a single member of the AGAP-South staff or science team was on that flight. Since the 13th we have been waiting for a ride out of East Antarctica, a ride that each day was promised and then taken away. The carps and electricians have it the worst. Their ride was supposed to come on the 13th, while the science team has just been waiting since the 15th or 16th. The funny thing is that the weather here was supposed to turn so foul and cold that we would not be able to get picked up at this time. It’s still a balmy -25F… normal AGAP summer temperatures.

Many of the HERC cancellations have had nothing to do with weather here at AGAP. The majority of flights were canceled because of mechanical problems and a few more were kept away by the forecast, not the actual weather. Last Tuesday, the HERC circled overhead and turned back to town without stopping. We later learned it had an engine failure that would prevent it from taking off again had it landed. That solace was not provided before the phrase “If a HERC circles twice and does not land, you’ve been AGAP’d” was added to the collection of poems, cultural arguments and witty limericks on the outhouse walls.

Yesterday morning, we were canceled again despite beautiful weather on the plateau. This particular HERC could not get appropriate air pressure in the passenger cabin. Normally, airplanes are kept at a pressure altitude of no more than 8000 ft, which is comfortable for most people when they are sitting or sleeping. Weather systems are often associated with pockets of high and low pressure. As they pass over, they change the pressure altitude or the amount of oxygen available in the air. Our science party has experienced pressure altitudes of near 16,000 ft while at AGAP. When they called to cancel the HERC because they couldn’t lower the altitude inside of it by pumping the plane full of oxygen, we all objected. Everything is downhill from AGAP! We are already at the maximum altitude we’d experience during flight and 2 days before we were 2,000 ft higher! Despite our exclamations, arguing with a HERC will never make it land. But later that night, a HERC finally landed! More importantly, it stopped, added 3,000 gallons of fuel to the AGAP fuel bladder and then hauled away with 20+ passengers and tons of cargo.

The much awaited HERC finally lands on the AGAP runway.

AGAP residents eagerly wait while cargo is loaded onto the HERC. Everyone was smiling and there was even some dancing… mostly because it was so cold.

Having waited patiently all weekend, Nick can’t hold back his excitement anymore.

Now back in McMurdo, the AGAP team will work to disassemble the science kit on the plane, pack, label and ship all our gear back to New York. Meanwhile, I am packing my personal things and coming to terms with going home — particularly since it will still be winter when I get there. A month in East Antarctica is plenty of winter for any year!

Not missing the cold of Antarctica does not save me from missing the adventure. As the reality of leaving this great continent dawned on me, I decided I had to throw myself in the deep end one more time: I took the polar plunge. Yes, I jumped into freezing cold, salty water in a cutaway in the ice shelf. It was surprising — like when we discovered one of the Recovery lakes is not a lake at all; it was cold, like the windy day on the plateau when the wind chill hit -55F and it was exhilarating — like all science fieldwork should be. What better way to end this journey of learning?

Swimming to the ladder after jumping into the Ross Sea as part of the annual Polar Plunge at Scott Base. Trust me — it’s not ideal bathing suit weather!

We arrived at the very end of October excited and enthusiastic – ready to go. The excitement really builds when you are on the flight over, until you step off the plane and you are assaulted by the frigid cold and the wind blows hard on your face. What’s more is that you dishearteningly realize you will spend at least a month living out of a tent in these conditions, working hard every day outside – more on that in a bit. It took us about two weeks to go through Happy Camper School, Crevasse Rescue Training, Snowmachine training, and to get all our gear in proper order.

We embarked from McMurdo in a Hercules LC-130 to Siple Dome. Because Siple Dome is far enough off-base, the pilots do not turn off the engines and they perform a cargo drop, as you can see in this clip.

From Siple Dome, we flew on the Basler, which is a DC-3 aircraft that was originally built in the 1940’s. Luckily for us, it has had some significant upgrades since then, i.e. avionics, new engines, etc. Have a look at this video of the Basler leaving us at our camp.

Part I

Part II

The main structure at Siple Dome.