Photos from the 2013/14 Antarctic Season

Just a few photos from the past six weeks of flying at McMurdo Station.

Mill-van Mall in Christchurch, NZ 

Earthquake damaged cathedral in downtown Christchurch

Sumner

Sumner Beach w/ lifeboat in action

Boarding the Herc for McMurdo

Offloading in McMurdo

McMurdo
Heliport

Taylor Valley

On Lake Bonney

Repeater retrieval in Moore's Bay

Lake Bonney Camp

Taylor Glacier

USCG Icebreaker Polar Star off Marble Point

Slinging Fuel Hose

Prepping Loads

Sea Ice

Ross Ice Shelf edge at Cape Crozier

Waiting at Crozier

McMurdo Station looking north

Gusts to 40kts

Mount JJ Thompson

Kiwi repeater at Mt. Cerberus

Goodye McMurdo!

Today is my last day in Antarctica.  I took a short hike up Observation Hill to say goodbye.  Notice the cargo vessel at the ice pier and the open water all around.  It is time to go!

Last fly day of the season!

That's it!  Today we're finished flying.  Time to clean up, pack up, and go home.

Here's the crew (minus the mechanics)

One last flight with Jack

Today likely marks the last flight of Jack Hawkins' long helicopter career.  Jack began flying with the military in Vietnam.  For the past 16 years, he has headed up the helicopter support effort in McMurdo.  Today, we're flying a group of distinguished military visitors on a flightseeing tour.  They're getting to see the sights and Jack is saying goodbye to his backyard.  Here are some highlights:

Beacon Valley

VXE-6 Icefalls

Lake Vanda, look closely for the hut.

The Labyrinth

Jack and Nick at Cape Evans

Just a few scenics

Victoria Valley Dunes 

Koetlitz Glacier

Sea Ice near Marble Point

A sling load arrives at MacTown

McMurdo Sound Ice Breakout

Russian icebreaker at the pier  

Tourist shuttle

This is the time of the year that vessels begin arriving in McMurdo Sound.  Our sea ice has thinned and the ice edge has moved close enough the the station to make it easy for a contract icebreaker to open the shipping channel.  Soon our fuel tanker will arrive along with a research ship, followed by our cargo vessel.  Cruise ships occasionally visit McMurdo as well and use helicopters to shuttle their guests ashore.  

TED Talk about the xAlps Paragliding Race

This talk is a great overview of the Red Bull X-Alps paragliding race.  Salzburg to Monaco with one main rule:  the athletes must carry their paraglider or the paraglider must carry them.

Killer Whale Tagging

Examine the cargo carefully and you'll see two crossbows.  Yep, crossbows.   These implements are used by one of our science groups to take tissue samples and to tag Orca Whales in McMurdo Sound.

I could write more, but you should really just watch the video shot by one of our pilots, Ken Kuwahara.

A-Star Pollywog

Our A-Star helicopters just returned from the Pine Island Glacier deep-field camp.  The aircraft were partially disassembled in order to fit onto the LC-130 Hercules cargo plane for the flight to the camp.  The poor things...

Mac Truck of the Sky

Here are a few photos from camp moves.  Our Bell 212 helicopters are essentially big flying dump trucks.  Ugly, noisy, rough-around-the-edges, tough, and capable.  Workhorses. 

Check out the sling in the foreground

Creative Rigging - techs will get it...

Surely we can get another box in there somewhere...

University Valley

Garwood Valley

A glory at Cape Crozier

Cape Crozier lies on the northeast side of Ross Island.  It is the location of an immense penguin colony and home to a small group of dedicated (and stinky!) researchers.  Every once in a while we fly out there to drop off goodies.

Flying between the sun and a low cloud creates a "glory".

Ross Ice Shelf on the horizon, the tan ground is the penguin colony or rather, their poo.  Don't get downwind!