It was a long but lovely process to get back to South Pole, this time for an entire year. Surprisingly, all travel plans went as scheduled with no delays anywhere along the way (unlike last year's trip south). But it was a long process because of staying for an entire year this year. This meant two weeks of training specific to those who will be part of our 45-ish wintering crew. We all convened in Estes Park, CO, for a week of team-building in the first half of October. What a gorgeous setting, with the elk rutting literally right in front of us. Some days it was difficult to get to breakfast because they were so close to the sidewalks we would have to take long detours.
Then, for a second week of training, half of the crew went to fire school, as they will be our resident fire-fighters once the station closes for the winter (around Feb 15)...
After training, it was finally time to start flying southward. Commercial flights to Christchurch, New Zealand (so fun to return there and have it feel like a familiar place), picking up all of our extreme cold weather gear at the US Antarctic Program center there. And then, after just a couple of nights in NZ, we boarded a US Air Force C-17 for the five-hour flight to McMurdo station, on the coast of Antarctica. Kind of disconcerting to take my seat directly in front of this beast, and I was a little relieved when the load master had me move about 30 minutes into the flight.
Such a joy, toward the end of the flight, to see Antarctica out the window once again.
Last year when we were delayed in McMurdo for about 5 days, it was not super-fun; the place felt alien, I wasn't feeling well, we were getting up very early every day in anticipation of flying, only to have the flight cancelled and then have to report to the McMurdo galley to help wash dishes for the day. I didn't love it.
But this visit to McMurdo was completely different, and so much fun. We were scheduled to stay for 5 days, so I was expecting it. The base already felt somewhat familiar, which was nice, and it's shocking to me how many people I know after just one season on the Ice. Fun to see acquaintances. Then, on top of that, my job is different this year, so instead of working in the galley the whole time, I had freedom to go information-gather from my counterparts in McMurdo and try to learn as much as I could about things that will affect my job running the South Pole store and post office this season. It was great fun to explore more of the base and meet so many more people.
Also, I was feeling well, had more free-time, and knew enough about the base to have a mental list of things I wanted to do while there.
One day, a group of us from Pole went over to the hut that Antarctic Explorer Captain Scott built on Ross Island in 1902, during one of his expeditions to the continent. The men on that expedition slept on their ship (which was iced in) and just used this cabin for cooking and storage. There are still petrified seal carcasses in and around the cabin (which gives it a very interesting smell), and it was amazing to see all of these long-ago, intrepid explorers' left-behind supplies sitting everywhere and imagine them walking around in that exact spot, but without the benefit of all of our synthetic cold weather gear, and having sailed there rather than arriving by plane. Incredible.
Not far from Scott's Hut, we paused for quite awhile on that day of BRILLIANT weather (zero degrees F, sun warming our backs, sky clear and gorgeous) to watch some Weddell seals struggle, one-by-one, to worm their way out of a hole they'd somehow made in the sea ice, skooch up onto the surface of the ice, and roll around basking in the sunshine. Beautiful.
Another night, with two other winter overs, I finally climbed Observation Hill, right alongside the base, for a lovely view of the McMurdo itself and a peek (not pictured) of Mount Erebus rising into the clouds about 40 miles outside of town.
Then we walked a few kilometers down the road to Scott Base, a Kiwi station, which hosts American Night every Thursday at their station bar. You can't really tell from this picture, but it's a really great station, so clean and bright, and all the various buildings are actually connected internally so once you're inside you can roam the entire place without going back out into the cold.
...as well as some pressure ridges building in the ice just offshore from their station.
Finally, nearly a month after I left Wisconsin, and so content with all of the great experiences that brought me this far, about 35 of us returning and newbie Polies boarded a C-130 from McMurdo to South Pole and safely landed, on the first try, at the bottom of the planet.
More to come! (And P.S.: I got this picture from someone who had just finished wintering at Pole when I arrived for the first time, right around this time last year. He is the one who guided in the first flight to land that summer, and this is a picture of him doing so...which means that I was actually on the plane in this photo!)
