The Gobi Desert

I can hardly believe I've reached the point where I have less than 2 weeks left in Antarctica. I just returned from my last trip to Pole. I was glad to be able to see the Pole in each of three stages of bringing the old Dome down. When I first got there it was fully intact, on the second trip it was halfway down and on my third trip it was completely gone. It was colder the first and third trips (this time -47 F). It was great to see the now familiar faces one more time before I head home. I was reviewing my notes from last time I was there and I think this is the only time in my life when I will write "reasses patient at my next trip to South Pole" under their plan of care.

In all reality this is where I spend most of my time. In the physical therapy clinic. Until I get home it will be "hat day." Let's just say I already have that haircut scheduled.

On January 1st of every year the geographical pole is moved (since it's on a moving ice sheet). A new marker is put in place. This year's marker is a representation of two of the primary Pole projects (Ice Cube and 10-meter Telescope). It is beautiful.

Here are the tunnels to the Old Dome. Behind them is a deep pit where the Dome used to be. The group of folks working here are definitely hard core. I flew up with 17 of the 45 or so folks who will be wintering-over at the South Pole station. They are preparing for the "one sunset" of the year in Antarctica.

Here is a picture of the new elevated station at the Pole. It's about 4 years old now but still looks brand new. People take a lot of pride in keeping it clean. The community is much smaller at the Pole than at McMurdo. Everyone knows everyone and it's very much like a family.

At that elevation on the polar plateau there is no wildlife (no penguins, seals or whales). And there are no hikes to go on like at McMurdo or the Dry Valleys. You just walk out to the end of the world and then turn around and come back. It's amazing in its own way.

The Pole station has a greenhouse for "freshies" and everyone likes to come in and see green. Here is Eli (we have mutual friends from Seattle) doing his thing.

Meanwhile back at McMurdo...the sea ice has a great spot to play field sports. This is where the rugby game was. One of the gals here is a competitive Gaelic football player. She decided to organize a game for females (since the guys had the rugby game). Nobody but her knew the rules. So we all practiced, did some drills and then played. If you've never heard of it you are not alone. It's a combination of soccer, rugby and ultimate frisbee. You can dribble some, kick some and run some. It was pretty funny watching us all try to remember in mid-play what we were allowed to do.

That's me trying to kick after awkwardly remembering that I had to either kick or dribble after 4 steps. A beautiful Mt. Erebus loomed behind us. What an amazing day with no wind.

The Minke whales have visited us. Here is a photo of Mt. Discovery with a whale just in the lower right had corner of the picture on the edge of the ice. You can see his fin in the open water in the foreground as he pops slightly out of the water.

The helicopters go throughout the day. To and from the field camps and supply caches. When the BBC crew was here I saw them get on the helo quite a bit, often late in the evening when the light was perfect for filming.

The fuel vessel Paul Buck came and left. It is on the right and is longer than the picture demonstrates. The Icebreaker is still here (The Oden) on the left. It will continue to be here to lead the resupply vessel The American Tern home once it gets here to offload a year's worth of supplies.

I went to a lecture by David Attenborough before he left. I wanted to include a picture but the place was packed. So I kept getting the back of someone's head and decided to forgo the attempt. He told us about a British naturalist named Alfred Wallace. He was a contemporary of Charles Darwin but lost 4 years of samples in a fire on his ship. He told us of his story and then showed some amazing clips (some of his old favorites). There are certain words or phrases that sound very uniquely Attenborough. Such as "juveniles" and "copulating" and "as it were." He answered questions about being in Rwanda with Dian Fossey when her beloved Gorilla, Digit, was murdered. And then talked about her later murder. But told it within a story demonstrating his amazing interactions with the animals. People kept peppering him with questions and I think we all could have stayed there all night long. Wow, the things he must have seen...nature at its best.

He said, "There are a number of significant things that have been burned into my memory which I shall never forget." The last question he took was by a very interesting person with her own amazing stories. She asked him, "Where do your dreams lie? Where would you like to go where you haven't been?" Mind you Sir Attenborough is 83 years old. He replied, "The Gobi Desert. But you have to walk a long way there before you see anything at all. So I won't be going there considering where I am in life." Then I started thinking of all the places he must have seen. Some that he had mentioned and all the ones he hadn't. Then he finished with, "I suppose there has to be a few places where you haven't been."

Maybe my Gobi Desert will be the Gobi Desert...but maybe not. Maybe mine will be the moon. I'd like to go to the moon. But there have to be a few places where you haven't been. I still have a lot to see. Maybe I won't rule the moon out just yet.

Room Without a View

I've hiked to Castle Rock frequently on my one day off each week. It's just a several mile hike from the station with a climb/scramble up the rock. It's an opportunity to get a nice panaromic view of the sea ice as it turns into open water. It's also a nice chance to get away from the busy station. Here's a pic of me on top of Castle Rock with Mt. Discovery in the background.



The sun still doesn't set although it is getting lower now. As winter approaches we are moving out of our nice summer weather and back to some of the cold temperatures I experienced when I first arrived.


A few of us camped at the base of the rock and spent the night sharing stories. Like what a winter at the Pole would be like and if we would ever do it (some had). It was absolutely pristine and is still odd to look out at your tent at 2 am and have it look like noon. The red apple huts are survival structures to be used if you are stuck out in a storm. It's nice to know they are there. We skiied back which was a blast after a storm that brought with it some great snow.

Castle rock is in the background. We climbed the right side ridge that is simply a scramble with a fixed rope just out of view. Standing on top of the rock has been a good way to document the changes in the sea ice since the Icebreaker came in. Ross Island is an island after all (McMurdo sits on Ross Island). Parts of the sea ice we had been able to ski on a few months ago are now open water with Minke whales and Weddell seals all around.

The fuel vessel The Paul Buck arrived now too so the "fuelies" have been busy offloading all the fuel for the station.

Hut Point is a great place to watch the animals if you don't feel like walking far. It is where Robert Scott's first hut is still standing. It makes for a nice overlook to see the whales as they feed on krill.

Winter Quarters Bay makes a natural dock for the ships. The pier is made of ice. The area was solid sea ice not too many weeks ago.

I got to go on a "boondoggle" which is an old military term for morale trip. It's a reward for hard work and "Room With a View" is one of the more sought after trips. I was excited to get this trip last week. You take snowmobiles up to the 1400' level on Mt. Erebus where a small tent (think Amundsen's tent when he reached the South Pole) is erected in case a storm locks you in while you are there. The treat in this trip is it is an amazing vantage point to see the Erebus Glacier tongue, Black and White Islands, the Royal Society Range and to truly see the direction the explorers went with their sledges to the Pole. It started out as a beautiful day.

The fog started rolling in suddenly and the view was never realized for us. We reached the "Room Without a View" and could barely see the tent. Luckily this was not the first time this had happened so there were supplies, including frisbees inside the tent. In fact, the disc said "Trader Joes" on it. So like a true Seattle transplant I threw with a few hearty folks and we made the best of our boondoggle.

The leaders of our trip held up a strip of paper showing what our view would have looked like. You can't see the detail from here but there were lots of mountains involved!

Another great opportunity I got to be a part of was replacing the register box on the way up Ob Hill. This is the short steep hike between McMurdo and Scott Base (the NZ base). There had been a box to sign your name up there for decades. It blew down in a storm years ago and, although the post remained, the box hadn't been replaced. One of the carpenters here put his amazing talents into the project of building a new one this season. He used wood from the old Jamesways from the 1960's (arched) and then put a beautiful varnish on it. I don't know enough about woodwork to truly know how many hours he put into it but I can tell you it was the most loved register box I've ever seen.

About 8 of us went up to ceremoniously help put the new piece in its place and got to be the first to sign the book. It felt like I was leaving a little bit of me to history by signing. This group had also done several trail projects this season.

An unmanned aircraft was given some test flights this season. It was carried down in this box that seemed to describe my mindset in trying to get here these last few years. I leave for the South Pole tomorrow for one final chance to treat folks there before they close the station to incoming planes for the winter. The winter-over crew there will be a skeleton crew without the luxury of a physical therapist.

The Oden Has Landed

For the past several days we have been watching the icebreaker Oden make it's way from the sea ice edge to McMurdo station. It is a Swedish icebreaker that breaks through the ice so the fuel tanker Paul Buck and the re-supply vessel The American Tern can dock and be off-loaded of their fuel and supplies. The Coast Guard used to be in charge of the icebreaker operations. The following sequence of pictures is in reverse order (sorry, loading problems). At first it was a speck on the horizon and each day got closer and closer as it broke through the ice. It is pretty wild to compare this picture with those of the expolorers who docked their ships in the exact same spot.

We are seeing the sea ice break up for the first time revealing the frigid polar waters underneath. Adelie penguins have been quite active and it has been a treat to watch them play in and out of the water.

Here is the Oden about 4 days before it got to us. It goes out each day to break the ice making huge passes churning the ice as it goes. I watched it make circle after circle one day. The re-supply vessel that follows it in will be here in about 2 weeks. It is the only re-supply vessel and comes once per year. So items arriving here soon were ordered a year ago.

This shows the icebreaker as it first came into sight one night as I was watching penguins. It's way out there on the horizon. All the vehicles have different license plates here in Antarctica. Of course I had to take a picture of this one.

This is the season for the big rugby match between the New Zealanders (Scott Base) and the Americans. It has never been won by the Americans. We played tough this year but couldn't stop the Kiwis. Before the game they performed the traditional Maori warrior dance -- the Haka. It was very impressive.

The game was played on a beatuiful sunny Antarctic summer day and was quite the competition. As the physical therapist I had to look the other way a few times. But what would a rugby game be without a little post-game limping.

Here is Sandi. She is my equivalent on the New Zealand base. We get along great although she had to rub it in a little.

Here is our cheer squad. We definitely had spirit. Which was entertaining. There are a few Seattle folks standing on that Piston Bully.

Mt. Erebus, Mt. Terra Nova and Mt. Terror loomed in the background. I guess I had my eyes on the scrum though.

We've been having a lot of fun with indoor soccer, ultimate frisbee and basketball leagues. They all have been competitive and a good way to counter the long hours and meet some folks I otherwise wouldn't work with. The soccer can only be 3 v. 3 with the limited space.

We even got some eye-catching socks to show our team spirit. Mine are red. Our team is Real Vostok. A lot like Real Madrid. Only difference is we are inside.

Seth the Swede sporting his blue ones. He rocks them a little more than me.

And my all-time favorite is of course, basketball. There is actually some serious talent. Here are my minions and I after a game-winning shot by yours truly.

David Attenborough, Chadden Hunter and the rest of the BBC gang are here filming their new series Frozen Planet. It's neat to meet some of the distinguished visitors (DVs) when they are here. I have one more trip to the South Pole station and then it's time to start getting ready for the end of the season. My winter replacement will be coming in and the 24-hr daylight will eventually return to 24-hr darkness. Yep, still glad I'm not wintering over.