The Antarctic weather gods continue to be annoyed with me, perhaps because I was unable to find a goat to sacrifice to appease them. We woke up this morning to dense fog, so dense that Ob Hill was not visible from downtown McMurdo. Normally, Ob Hill is a dominant presence on the edge of McMurdo. By 07:00 we got word that our flight out to the field had been cancelled. This is Thanksgiving weekend in McMurdo – celebrated on Saturday rather than Thursday – and that means our next opportunity to get out to Victoria Land will be Monday. Time is getting short; if we do not get out to Victoria Land soon, the trip could be cancelled entirely. As you can see, John is quite agitated by this prospect.

Adapting to a new reality is a fact of life in Antarctic science. Ralph and Brian are planning to fly out to the Shackleton base camp on Monday for a reconnaissance flyover of sites for the main season meteorite search, but that too could be cancelled. The remainder of the main team (Alex, Jani, Jim and Minako) is scheduled to arrive in McMurdo on 30 November, the day after Brian and Ralph “plan” to be back from their recon flight. The schedule for next week is tight, and further weather problems could mean some of the preseason activities would have to be cancelled. Such is life on the harshest continent in the world. We just roll with the punches…

Posted by duck (a.k.a. Dave Mittlefehldt)

Image 1: View towards Ob Hill from downtown McMurdo at about 06:00.

Image 2: View from Hut Point across McMurdo with Ob Hill looming over all, taken on a beautiful day earlier in the week.

Image 3: John Schutt, visibly quite upset over the possibility we might lose the pre-season meteorite search.