Hut Cave Tour

The weather has gone seriously downhill - we're sitting in a 30 knot, -30C storm - and so most of our science is off. However, the weather inside the ice caves is barely affected since they are sheltered from the wind and cold, and so we were able to do a little bit of GPS surveying inside the caves yesterday. It's wonderfully warm, moist, and dark in the caves. Here are a few highlights from the trip.





















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From the top of Ross Island....

Mt. Erebus - the crater rim

Greetings from the top of Ross Island! I’m spending my holiday season up at 11,400ft in elevation, just a thousand feet below the top of Mt. Erebus, the world’s most southern active volcano. There are 16 of us here on this Christmas Day – 9 vulcanologists and geochemists, 3 BBC crewmen, and 4 “randoms” of which I belong. This mountain is a truly amazing place, and the people on this mountain rock. These are the two reasons that the top part of this mountain is probably my favorite place in Antarctica.

Skidooing up towards the top

This is what Mt. Erebus looks like from just outside of camp on a clear day. Today is not a clear day and the scenery is remarkably reminiscent of a blank piece of paper, so I won’t bother posting a picture of the “view”.

A fumarole.

Our camp is located a thousand feet down the north flank of the crater, and the landscape is beautifully volcanic. There are old lava flows all around, and peppering the landscape are ice towers (called fumaroles) formed by escaping steam from cracks in the volcano. Below the ice towers, there are usually complex cave systems – the BBC crew loves these (one of the guys here told me it was in the top 5 most amazing things he’d seen) and they’ve been filming these ice/lava caves religiously.

The camp itself is not exactly spectacular, but I’m very attached to it. There is a main hut that is heated where we can all pile into for meals, which are cooked by Anna, our do-it-all camp hand. It’s got a lot of personality as people have added their personal decorations over the years.

Lower Erebus Hut

There is also a shed, so to speak, and it houses scientific equipment, the toilet, a generator, and a small workshop.

Personal accommodations are tents. Here is a part of the tent city out back.







Skidoos are the main mode of transportation here.


So what am I doing up here? I am helping out with both the LiDAR and GPS aspects of the project, and fixing a couple of our permanent GPS stations that are located up here.




Scanning the crater



Before I sign off, here are a few pictures of our Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate… and happy winter and end-of-year celebrations to all!



Santa visits LEH






The winning stocking - people get
very creative!





The table is set.


Not your average nativity scene, but we'll take it...




The team preps the Xmas meal


The BBC crew films the exotic behaviors of the
elusive Erebus penguins.

Anatomy of a Field Camp

The Jamesway at the field camp at Lake Fryxell

This year, I was immediately whisked out into the field upon my arrival at McMurdo. I usually have a week or two of settling in and getting things going, but within 3 days, I shipped off to the Dry Valleys for a weeklong data collection extravaganza. The Dry Valleys are a set of valleys in the mountains across from McMurdo Sound. They make for an incredibly beautiful settings and unique environment in terms of weather, life and land.

The Dry Valleys of the Transantarctic Mountains are just
some 60 miles west of McMurdo Station (lower right)

Most of what I do down here (and back up north) involves helping various science groups collect GPS data and terrestrial LiDAR data. A lot of them are glaciologists, geologists, and other earth scientists, but we also work with other researchers, like biologists, environmental groups and atmospheric scientists. This makes my job really interesting as I get to dip my fingers into a lot of different projects and see the different studies happening on this side of the continent.

For a majority of the groups that ask for GPS support, we train the team members on how to use the GPS gear and then hand them the equipment and wish them the best on their field campaign. But often, the groups want us to collect the data for them and we get to go out into the field to help them do just that. In fact, with the LiDAR, I get to go out on 90% of the data collection runs, and I consider myself pretty lucky in that respect. That’s my favorite part of my job – the field aspect.

Fieldwork is awesome because you get to have this as your commuter vehicle:

I *heart* helicopters.

And this as your office:

That photo is of the Canada Glacier, which is in the Dry Valleys, just a 45 minute helicopter ride from McMurdo.

Often, science groups will stay in established camps that are pretty cozy and comfortable – some of the buildings are even heated and have 24-hour electricity. This post will be about one such camp. Other times, the groups will have to set up their own temporary camps, and these vary from group to group. These generally don’t have any kind of heating and very limited electricity. I’ll post something about these camps at some other time.

Solar power provides most of the electricity [Lake Fryxell]

The main hut at Lake Hoare

My favorite field camp in the Dry Valleys is the one at Lake Hoare. Lake Hoare is located in beautiful Taylor Valley, which has 3 large lakes: Lake Fryxell (lowest elevation), Lake Hoare, and Lake Bonney. Two things make Lake Hoare my favorite spot in the Taylor Valley – the location and the food! The camp sits right at the foot of the Canada Glacier and just above the lake. It’s a gorgeous spot and getting to camp that close to a glacier makes my knees weak every time.

Making pizza dough inside the Lake Hoare kitchen hut

The camp is pretty luxurious – there are several little lab huts where scientists can look at the samples they’ve collected right there in the field so as to avoid the samples spoiling while waiting to get back to the main science lab at McMurdo. There’s also a main hut with a big kitchen/dining room and an annex that serves as a computer room/nap room/hang out room.

The lab huts at Lake Hoare

Lake Hoare has a wonderful staff that cooks delicious meals (easily 10 times better than the regular McMurdo Galley fare) and takes care of all of the camp chores. The staff really helps move things along and, in general, they are just great people. In almost every other camp, the science groups are responsible for all of the camp duties – cooking, cleaning, organizing cargo, ordering food, coordinating helicopters, etc. So getting to stay at Lake Hoare comes with a big dose of pampering.

Inside a Scott Tent

Welcome to my tent! There are two kinds of tents; the Scott tent is a tall, pyramidal shelter that is great for space, but not so warm, and the mountain tents are your everyday mountaineering tents and are much warmer, but a little low on space. I like ‘em both.

I’ve always slept in a tent in the field (as opposed to a hut), and I really love it. There’s something about the cold air, the warmth of your sleeping bag, and the absolute silence that is entirely unique to this place and makes for a really good night’s sleep.

People are often curious about taking care of those basic human needs in field camps. Well, in short, the answer is that pee gets collected in big 55 gallon drums and solid human waste goes back to "town" in a bucket. Every camp is a little different, but usually the loo is either in a small closet sized shelter or in a tent. I once worked with a group that didn't like shelters for toilets... the bucket just sat in a private spot behind a rock. Wonderful views, but I'm glad it didn't storm when I was there. Anyway, here’s a photo of what one of the closet-type toilets looks like:

On the left, we have the ladies’ peeing seat,
and on the right the co-ed pooing seat.

I think that's about it... soon I'll post something about the work I do out here.

The moon cresting over the top of a
peak at Lake Fryxell camp.

Getting to Antarctica

Boarding the C17

No matter how many weather or mechanical delays you “suffer” in New Zealand, the time finally comes when it’s time to head South. On the morning of the flight, your alarm clock typically goes off at 4:45am or so, you stumble out of bed and find your way to the door of your hotel. A shuttle soon appears and, after numerous stops at other hotels and endless waits for travel companions who forgot to wake up or are simply MIA, it whisks you off to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC), right next to the airport and where you were issued your Emergency Cold Weather (ECW) clothing earlier in the week. You hastily rearrange your bags, swap your summer New Zealand clothes for your Antarctic get-up and proceed to Customs.

Proceeding through customs.

Checking into the flight.

The Antarctic program doesn’t go through the normal rigmarole that most airline passengers are subjected through. That’s because the participants fly down on US Air Force cargo planes, namely C-130s and C17s. If you’re lucky, you’ll get on a C17 flight – these puppies are full on jet planes and will carry you down to McMurdo in just about 5 hours. The C-130s are turboprop planes and take about 8-9 hours. I haven’t had to fly on one of those (except for in the Arctic) and I’m not sad about that. So, instead of having to go through the check-in process at the regular airport terminal, all is done in-house at the CDC.

Once you’ve passed Customs, you get a boarding card and are free for the next hour or so. Forty minutes before you are to board, everybody on the flight will gather in the waiting area, where a few people will brief you on the flight and you’re shown a video explaining your arrival in Antarctica and what it’s like to be down there. Meanwhile, a Kiwi Air Force customs person and his or her friendly canine assistant walk around the entire room – I’m not sure what the dog is sniffing for, but it’s just part of the deal.

And then it’s suddenly time to go! You gather up your Big Red (enormous, suffocatingly warm jacket that is the star of the USAP’s clothing line) and your carry on bag, pass through security (yes, there is security!), someone hands you a quasi-palatable flight lunch, and you make your way to the plane.

A military cargo plane is a bit different from most commercial flying experiences. You are still in a pretty uncomfortable seat, but there’s plenty of walking space. There’s no such thing as a window seat, and your view will probably be an assortment of cargo you had no idea was even shipped to McMurdo. This year, I found myself seated directly next to a large tank of refrigerated liquid helium. I was happy that the chains holding it in place didn’t snap.

Looking towards the back of the plane. The large
white item is a tank full of liquid helium.

The cool thing about the plane is that you can see everything – I mean every wire, cable, etc. is exposed. It makes for faster, easier repairs. You can also get check out the flight deck, where the friendly pilots are usually happy to show you what’s going on up there. And you can get up and walk around as much as you like.

On the sea ice runway.

And, before you know it, you’ve landed on the sea ice runway (yep – it really is sea ice and that huge cargo plane really does land on it) and the plane comes to a stop. The door opens, the bright sunlight streams in, and you suddenly feel the snap of the cold air. You step outside onto the Ice only to find a vast, white, sunny landscape that feels unlike any other place - there's no doubt, you’ve arrived.

No. 6

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I'm finally picking this blog up after a pretty lamentable "start" and quasi-immediate stop 2 years ago.... I'm on my way down to McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and I've decided to honor a couple of my friends' requests and keep a journal while I'm down there. This will be my 6th season on the "Ice", as it's called, and my 3rd season working for my current employer, UNAVCO. My job is, in a nutshell, to assist scientists in collecting GPS data and LiDAR data (think 3D images). I'll be down there for 3 months! But first, I must travel from Boulder, Colorado, my lovely abode in the Rocky Mountains, to New Zealand, where I'll board a military plane and hop down to McMurdo Station....

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After an eventful (and not in the good way) set of flights, I’ve finally crossed the Pacific and made my way to Christchurch, New Zealand. I’m on my way south to Antarctica, and if the weather down there holds clears, I should be boarding a military cargo plane (a C17) on Friday Tuesday that will carry me to McMurdo Station, where I’ll spend the next 3 months helping scientists collect GPS data and 3D scans of various landforms. (It’s now Sunday, and after a couple of 5am cancellations, I’m hoping Tuesday really is the day.)


Christchurch is one of my favorite towns in the world. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that it’s that last oasis of wonderful “real world” things like real food and trees and culture and everything before I head south, and again my reintroduction to those things when I get back. But I think most of my love affair with this part of the world can be attributed to the fantastic Kiwi culture. For what is there not to love about New Zealand and New Zealanders?


Here are a few of my favorite things in and around Christchurch… Though the list is far from complete!

The wonderfully expansive Arts Centre, home to a bazillion galleries
featuring local artists. Paintings, weaving, sculpture, movies,
jewelry - it's all here, in an old British college campus.

Beaches, the ocean, and random art on the beaches. This
piece was entitled "No. 993".

My final communion with trees...

The wonderfully accessible botanical gardens, just a 3 minute walk
from the Arts Centre. Pure heaven in here, I tell ya....

The small, hip port town of Lyttleton, situated in this ancient caldera.
Great hikes are to be found all around the caldera rim.

Flat whites at C1 Cafe. Freaking awesome.
I dream of these all year round.