Hillary's Sherpa

This past Sunday Scott Base celebrated its 50th Anniversary. As part of the celebration the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary came down for a visit. Hillary was part of the original Scott Base construction expedition in 1957 and was most recently on the ice in 2005. The Kiwis absolutely adore "Sir Ed" and made every accommodation to make his visit as comfortable as possible. This included constructing the "Hillary Step" which affords an easier ascent into the helicopters down here.

At 87, Sir Ed is not as agile as he used to be, but maintains his commitment to the NZ Antarctic Program and the preservation of Ross Island's historic huts. On this visit, speaking at Shackleton's Nimrod Hut at Cape Royds, he asked that the British Government offer more financial assistance towards protecting and preserving these monuments to Antarctic exploration. Currently the maintenance of these huts is headed by the New Zealand based Antarctic Heritage Trust.

Pilot Paul Murphy and I felt privileged to have such a living legend aboard our aircraft.

For those of you who are reading about the "Forgotten Men" of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party, here is a photo of the Aurora's anchor. Imagine the despair you'd feel to wake up and find no ship attached to this giant hook!

Climbing the Matterhorn

Happy 2007 Y'all!!

There has been lots going on the world lately. A huge thank you to everyone back home for keeping in touch.

Nick here, Becky has been banished to the South Pole Station for the next two weeks. Perhaps she'll be able to post from 90 degrees South, but until then you're stuck with me.

There has been lots going on back home of late. A huge THANK YOU to everyone for keeping in touch and sending prezzies and treats!! Getting news from home means a great deal.

Congrats to Stefan and Rebecca who were married on the 6th of January. I'm sure that it was an awesome party! Wish we could have been there. Please no photos of the powder on Mt. Bachelor!

Congrats to Paul and Jessie on their engagement in India. Paul, I understand your ring fetish completely, read on! Will there be dahl bat at the wedding?

And hip-hip-hooray to Ma and Pa Dodd of Napa!! Becky and I can't wait to instill some wanderlust into the youngster. Better start saving now!

And, in case any of you missed it, we have a celebrity in out midst. Ol' TOC has gone primetime! Click here to read all about Dr. Terry's lifesaving (no joke!) antics on the Big E. Thank you to Michael for allowing Beck and I to follow the series. Congrats T on your accomplishment! And nice hat!

Now for the latest from the Ice.

On December 27th I had the opportunity to join Becky for an evening at her field camp in the Dry Valleys. Surprise!!! Rather than wasting the 24 hour daylight by sleeping, we decided to climb a nearby peak known locally as the Matterhorn. We departed the Lake Bonney camp at 7 pm, crossed the lake ice, humped up a steep scree slope, kicked steps along the edge of the Matterhorn Glacier, scrambled a ridge and finally climbed some steep, but blocky rock to an airy summit. Becky fairly dragged my sorry arse up the whole thing, she was charging!! The windless air was cold, but the sky was cloudless and the midnight sun, bright. It was one of those climbs that just gets more interesting the higher you go. The rock up high on the Matterhorn has been "ventifacted". That is, it has been sculpted and carved by the wind. Imagine climbing granite that looks like swiss cheese. Absolutely surreal.

On the summit, Becky sat for a moment to admire the view and sign the register. I fumbled around in my pocket for a small box. There, in the middle of the night on a peak in Antarctica I asked Becky to marry me. Shouted from the mountaintop, I think her "yes" could be heard all the way back at camp!! Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!
We spent the next three hours skipping back to camp in a euphoric haze brought on by bliss and sleep deprivation. Then, after a few hours sleep

it was time to get back to work. Thanks again for the comments, congrats, and e-mails. Oh, and check out the new PeaceNick Image Gallery, its listed with the links on the right of the page.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Happy Holidays Y'all!

Its a very mellow Christmas Day here at McMurdo. We have today off in celebration of the holiday. Most folks are spending it lying low, watching movies, sipping coffee, and sleeping in. The town was absolutely deserted early this morning. After a few days of tropical above-freezing temps and light winds, we're back to light snow, 1/2 mile visibility, temps in the teens and frigid winds. Perfect for cozying up to a book and listening to NPR over the satellite feed. Becky is spending the holiday at a field camp in the Dry Valleys. She should return before the New Year with crazy stories and photos to share. I've been keeping busy in her absence writing and skating.

Since I don't have any skating photos of me, here's one of Bea! She can rip!

For those of you who've been wondering just exactly where the heck we are (Merry Christmas!) here's a map. Notice the positions of NZ and So. America and the tracks of our icebreakers. The icebreakers are converging on McMurdo to punch in our shipping channel for the fuel tanker and resupply vessel slated to arrive later in January. Hooray, diesel and beer for next year!

Merry Christmas!

Weather Day

Well Tuesday was a bit on the cloudy side. Compare the two photos. Where did the mountains go? In conditions like those on the right, we stay on the ground. Coffee and cookies anyone?

Antarctica is notorious for "flat light". Most downhill skiers are familiar with the poor depth perception that comes with diffuse overcast lighting and snow on the ground. Its a case of white-on-white. Flat light makes it difficult to determine relative movement, height-above-ground, and terrain fluctuations. This alone won't keep us grounded, but obscure the horizon with a little blowing snow, ice fog, or clouds and you have all the ingredients for spatial disorientation. In conditions like these skiers fall down and well, so do helicopters. Best to stay put, enjoy a nice hot beverage, and watch the cargo stack up. With one-day weekends down here we're often thankful for the extra rest day.

Fly Day

Alright, another blissfully work-free Sunday has arrived! That means it's time to catch up on sleep, calories (great big brunch this AM), and the journal.

Good weather has kept us busy down at the helicopter pad. We specialize in cramming 10 pounds of humanity and science into the proverbial 5 pound bucket, in this case a Bell 212 helicopter. On occasion we have to fly the big loads on the outside. Pictured above is a load of propane and diesel about to be hooked to the belly of the approaching aircraft. It is quite a thrill to have 11,000 lbs of thrashing machinery hovering overhead as you hook the cable to the belly.

Its been said that the Bell 212 can be a dump truck or a greyhound bus, but not both at the same time. Here is a typical dump truck load of science instruments, camping gear, food, and probably a few bottles of wine. A 212 can carry 2500 lbs of cargo, but we often run out of internal space before we max out the aircraft's lifting capability. Packing and securing internal cargo is the art of the Helo-tech. However, we occasionally forgo finesse for the brute force of a Tokyo subway pusher. Just watch out for the million dollar NASA Mars probe instrument! Seriously!!

Just over the hill from McMurdo Station is Scott Base, home to the New Zealand Antarctic Program. Notice the pretty green buildings and contained, thoughtful layout. The station has one main door with all the major buildings and workshops connected by heated corridors. Spectacular nature photographs from around New Zealand grace the station's interior. Windows are plentiful and oriented to take advantage of spectacular views. The base is a reflection of New Zealand's national identity: small, pioneering, connected to nature, and sensitive to quality of life. In short, Scott Base has a soul. To be fair, it also has 10% the population of McMurdo. More on the splendors of McMurdo later.

I haven't seen much of the Antarctic continent, but this place is my favorite so far. Situated about one hour WNW of McMurdo and just on the edge of the polar plateau is a glaciated version of the desert southwest. A geology group led by Dr. Dave Marchant of Boston University believes that they have found ice that is over a million-years-old under the rocks of the Beacon Valley. More on this research can be found at: http://people.bu.edu/marchant/ This is also one of the more challenging places we fly into. Katabatic winds coming off the plateau frequently cause nasty turbulance around these peaks.

Paperwork! What government contract work would be complete without forms in triplicate? In addition to monitoring instruments, scanning for other air traffic (C-130s, Twin Otters, and other helicopters), watching the weather, and generally keeping the pilot awake, helo-techs write up passenger manifests and track flight time. For those of you who've never tried to write legibly while riding in a 212, just imagine a washboard road in an old Toyota pickup at 35 mph. Or at least that's my excuse!

That's all for now. Thanks for the e-mails from home!