Crary Lab Tour

Crary Lab touch tank. It's kind of like an Antarctica petting zoo full of strange creatures - and I'm just talking about the people from the carpenter shop.

In The Carp (Carpenter) Shop

Nickie and Tirzah in Condition 2

Tirzah Juskalian thinking inside the box

Nickie Gerome and her field camp toilet seat production

Carps playing Dominoes after work in the shop

Flomax fuel pump winter berm storage boxes for Siple Dome Field Camp

Return to McMurdo

View from the Carp Shop deck

Carp Shop at 7:30 am with crescent moon and Ob Hill

The Christchurch Earthquake

It takes about a week from when I leave home to get back to McMurdo. We spend three nights in Denver for training and then two nights in Christchurch before flying to the Ice. It is not the same in Christchurch after the February 2011 earthquake that killed 200 people and devastated the downtown. The city center is still closed and many buildings have been torn down. It's sad to see how hard Christchurch was smacked down, but the city and it's people are resilient.

Heading North

Leaving today (Feb. 16) on a Air Force C-17 heading back to New Zealand, or redeploying as they call it here. It has been a good but long season, and I, like most everyone else, am ready to leave.

I've added some pictures from my last two field camp trips. Enjoy.

WAIS Divide Deep Field Camp

A final toast as we prepare to close and leave WAIS Divide. We were the last camp standing.

Winter Berm storage. This is to prevent the pallets from drifting over with snow during the long winter.

Dr. Charlee McClellans "Artic Oven" tent. Skiway markers are visible in the background.

The Carps

Just after condition 2

Condition 2 (Condition 3 is normal, Condition 1 is don't go outside)

Jonathan Castleberry-Scott

Me in front of the Arch. Here the scientists are drilling down through the ice to study the gas in the ice cores to learn about the earth in past years. It goes back about 100,000 years. They have reached 3330 meters so far. This is the deepest US ice core in the world.

It is flat white here, except for the man-made winter berms.

Robyn and Angela

The Artic Chief - this is the Carp's warming tent, lounge, etc.

A fine fishing hole. Hold on Dr. McClellan, looks like you've got a big one!

Angela and a "dead man" - these are what we bury in the snow to anchor the RAC tents, the dead man that is, not Angela, although Angela would probably work just as well.

Lake Bonney in the Dry Valleys

Hooking Helo loads

Mark Miller, electrician, and the Bonney Camp Jamesway

Tourists at Blood falls

Taking down a Polar Haven

Angela with the Taylor Glacier and Blood Falls in the background.

Dr. Charlee McClellan, the most interesting man in the world

Happy Hour at the Lake Bonney Yacht Club