I had a wonderful last couple weeks with my family in the frozen Midwest (Chicago and Lake Michigan looking harshly beautiful, I thought, from the air) before starting the long journey south.
Four flights over 30+ hours brought me, finally, to the now-familiar Antarctica staging ground of Christchurch, New Zealand. Which is kind of funny, because Christchurch is nothing like Antarctica. It's very green, and the late summer weather during the two nights I had there was GORGEOUS.
I went through the now-familiar process of watching all the orientation videos we have to watch at the US Antarctic Program offices, got all of my extreme cold weather gear issued, got a couple really great nights' sleep in a nice hotel (very effective in helping me get over my travel fatigue!), met a handful of my fellow winter-overs who were traveling south with me, and then right on schedule (which is a little bit of a shame...no one objects to a couple extra nights in beautiful Christchurch when there are weather delays on the Antarctica end) we got on a C-17 bound for McMurdo. The first views of the ice shelves made me feel giddy!
And we landed on a day that some people in town (McMurdo, that is) told me is one of the nicest days they've had all summer. The skies and snow at Phoenix Air Field were BRILLIANT.
I had a few minutes to run across the snow to where the passengers heading north were waiting to board the plane we'd just gotten off of, and was able to give quick hugs to a couple of Polies who were leaving after their summer season. And then, as has been the routine each time I've come down here, we got on the shuttle for the 40-minute ride into town. AKA McMurdo, the largest base on Antarctica. In the past McMurdo has just been the last way-station for me on the journey down to Pole. But this time, it's the end of my journey, as I'll be spending the next 8-9 months (the Antarctic winter) here, running the station store. If you're curious, you can learn muuuuch more about McMurdo by clicking here.
These first couple days have been a total blur of seeing so many familiar faces (more than I expected, and some of them will be here for the first couple months of the winter, and some of them are leaving soon but will be back for the last couple months I'm here), getting used to the (compared to the much smaller, quieter culture of Pole) very festive, bustling feeling of McMurdo, starting the turnover process for the store (got to get as much info as possible from the outgoing store people before they fly out this coming week), learning my way around town a little more each day, and attending a multitude of trainings.
Especially fun: Field Safety Training, where a pro mountain guide led us through setting up and doing basic maintenance on white gas stoves for field cooking and water-melting, emergency kit familiarity, pitching program tents (including tying really fun knots of various kinds that I really hope I can remember), and helicopter safety.
Of course, the hope is that none of this info will be needed on an emergency basis during our time here, and chances are slim that I'll get to actually use any of the helicopter or field camping skills I learned, but it was super-fun to learn them all the same.
I've not been great about taking pictures so far, and I'll try to do better on that. Should be lots of fun new things to talk about on this blog this winter since it's a new station and a totally new experience in many ways. It's off to a great start, though!
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