That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles…

Last year I was supposed to fly to the South Pole, but I got Covid and had to quarantine in McMurdo. I’ve waited a year to get my chance to go again. The ice gods are not with me yet again. Flights have been delayed so much that I do not have time now before I start my NSF Representative tour. The one LC-130 that made it in last night was to be my ride to Pole, however it had to go straight back to New Zealand with a medevac. That’s just how things go down here. Hard to make plans! We will see if I can get away during the remainder of my deployment, but now it will be much harder to leave McMurdo when I assume my official role.



At New Zealand's Scott Base down the road

I’ve been learning more about my position which includes interactions with other international Antarctic programs. New Zealand’s Scott Base is just down the road from us. They are doing a large rebuild of their base, including a reroute of the road we share that leads out to our airfields.


Road construction collaboration


Today, I was part of the US team that walked through the construction plan with the NZ team. It was a gorgeous day out. As we did the walk around, the ground reminded me of volcanic rocks. Here we are making sure we understand how this road will be aligned and looking for any issues, such as closeness to fuel lines.


The Kiwis are always so nice. They gave us homemade cookies and a drink that’s like hot cocoa. My colleague Marc and I scarfed the cookies down.



In the evening I had to take an outdoor safety class to be able to hike anywhere. Here’s the view from the classroom and a few environmental related stickers in the room. I got a kick out of the "no pee" in Antarctica one. When you go out into the field, you have to take a pee bottle (water bottle) with you because you can't just do your business on the land/ice. You have to bring that bottle back with you to McMurdo and dispose of the contents properly.




The days are always filled with different adventures and problems to solve. No day is what you planned.



Comments

  1. Mae TravelsNovember 19, 2023 at 8:51 AM

    Sorry you missed such a rare opportunity! I’m looking forward to your further adventures and challenges. I hope you’ll post about the food (with food photos) and about the decor of the buildings (if any).
    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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