McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station with Ob Hill in the background as viewed from the Hut Point Loop Trail.
Photo by Rosalind Lee

I am about halfway through the season now at McMurdo Station. It has been a good time so far. I arrived here on August 16 at the end of winter on a night passenger flight. I was on the second plane in after no flights since March. Interesting to be here in the dark when it has been contant light the other times that I have been here. There was only five hours of light per day when I first arrived, but now the sun is up all day.

The Carp Shop has been really busy building things to support the scientists. We have been opening up the Dry Valley Camps and are going to be heading out to the various deep field camps for two to three weeks to open them. This year we have BYRD, PIG (Pine Island Glacier), WAIS (West Antarctica Ice Survey, I think), CTAM (Central Trans Antarctica Mountains), and we will also be supporting the South Pole and sending carpenters there. CTAM is a new camp out at the Beardmore Glacier. Most of the deep field camps are flat and white, but CTAM in at the foot of the mountains so it is a bit more scenic. I may get to go there later in the season. I will be returning to BYRD this year for the put-in in about a week. I just found out a couple of days ago that I will be going to open the lower Eribus hut which sits at 13,000 ft. on the side of Mt. Eribus. Mt. Eribus is the southern most active volcano in the world. Not too many people get to go there, so I'm pretty lucky to get this assignment.