The Dry Valleys

Flew out by helocopter to Taylor Valley in the Dry Valleys for some Polar Haven maintenance on the lake ice. This consisted of leveling the tent platforms and replacing the deadman by drilling new holes in the ice for the ropes. Deadman are the tie-downs to keep the Polar Havens from blowing away. We had to get in and out of the helos about five different times. Great scenery pus it was a warm day without any wind. I was working most of the day in a t-shirt and a thermal. There were three carpenters. Galen, Sheri and myself pus Dawn. Dawn is the head of Housing and had never been on a helocopter before. Great place for your first time. Some weather was coming in and we thought that we might have to spend the night, which is not necissarily a bad thing. Beautiful place to get stuck. We were able to fly home afterall, and it was a great day.

Flying over the Ferrar Glacier with the Overflow Glacier in the distance. There are a ridiculous amount of glaciers down here.

Taylor Glacier and Blood Falls. The falls are colored by iron in the glacier. Appropriately named since glaciers are actually rivers of ice and snow. They just flow really, really slow.

Polar Haven

Becky and Rae, Lake Hoare camp managers. Good people.

Sheri at Lake Hoare with the Canada Glacier in the background. The structure on the right is the main building/kitchen/galley/etc. The smaller buildings are for research. I am not really sure what kind of research goes on here, but I do know that you are paying for it

Canada Glacier at Lake Hoare. The edge of the glacier is about 200' high