Flying to the Byrd Glacier is a special trip for us. We're heading so far south from McMurdo Station that we fly as team of two aircraft for backup. We also add the second auxiliary fuel tank to each helicopter giving us extra range. Still, the Byrd is so remote that we have to refuel from a cache on the way there and back.
The Byrd Glacier is about 15 miles wide and drains a vast area of the ice sheet making it one of the faster moving glaciers in Antarctica. We're flying south to monitor, repair, and retrieve data from a series of GPS stations that are tracking the movement of the glacier.
If you click on the location tag at the bottom of any of these posts it will take you to a google map. Check it out!
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| To the left, the Ross Ice Shelf. To the right, the Transantarctic Mountains. Headed south. |
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Matt, the dutiful HeloTech, pumps gas while Paul shows off his Ultimate Fighting skills for Ryan.
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Darwin Glacier fuel Cache, our pals flying Twin Otter ski planes put the fuel in at the beginning of the season.
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| Cutting snow blocks with a chainsaw. Yay Power Tools! |
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| A Very Big Glacier |
| The antarctic is pretty hard on battery powered electronics. Note the angle of the solar panel. |
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