Juliane (left) and Brian (right) on their skidoos in front of Mt. Cecily/Mt. Raymond searching for meteorites.

 

Brian concentrating on topping our pizza with lots of cheesy goodness.

Yesterday we woke up to 12 knot katabatic winds rattling our tent that brought the temperatures down to -39 F (-39 C). Katabatic winds are gravity-driven not weather-driven. Cold air is more dense than warm air, so the cold Antarctic air sinks to the ground and flows down from the interior of the continent towards the coast. Along the way it drives the loose ice and snow crystals over the ground. We are on the ice plateau in the interior of Antarctica and so we get caught in these katabatic winds. They are strong and very very cold. And so we decided to start our day one hour late to see if it got any better. At 10am we decided to go for it even though the wind was howling and pulling angrily at our clothes, looking for ways to creep into our fabrics and bite into our skins. We drove to a nearby ice fields that has not been searched before and started our systematic sweep. But by lunch time we still hadn’t found any meteorites and our hands and feet were frozen. The wind did not let go. So we decided to have a warm lunch back at camp. I was so cold by the time we got back it took almost 2 hours, lots of butter, chocolate, and Pringles, to semi-warm up again. I put on 2 more layers of clothes and wind breaking protection and when we ventured out again this time I could only laugh at the wind’s attempt to freeze me. I was comfortable now (not sure if it was the extra layer of clothes or all the butter and chocolate that helped my internal furnace to produce body heat – or a combination of all). Granted I could only walk like a penguin now but who cares. We set some GPS coordinates for John at some exposed rocks that could be found on a map and then did some recon of the ice field we had started to sweep earlier. Nothing. But the scenery was breathtaking. At 3pm the windspeed reached more than 18 knots and the windchill was down way below -40F (more like -60). The wind drove the snow over the ice in long, swirling lines that looked like living snakes slithering over the ice. Barb dubbed them snow-snakes, a very fitting name. It was beautiful to watch them creep and crawl over the ice but oh so very cold. By 3:30pm we couldn’t stand it anymore and called it a day. We raced back to camp being chased by the snow-snakes. We tended to our skidoos despite the howling winds and covered them of fear for the snow drifting into the engines over might. At 6pm we all met and had our first pizza night. We discussed pizza from different cultures; meaning German pizza toppings such as tuna a nd onions vs American pizza toppings. It was fun and the pizza came out fabulous. During last night the wind picked up even more and was tearing at our tents. We were safely snuggled up in our down-feather sleeping bags but it took me a very long time to fall asleep. I listened to the rattling of the tent, the howling of the wind, the snow being drifted onto the tent walls, and couldn’t help but think about all the early explorers like Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton who braved the coldness and icy winds of Antarctica here on the plateau before us with a lot less well protecting equipment. It humbles us, puts things into perspective and really lets you appreciate the little things like a down-feather sleeping bag. We woke up to still howling winds today with wind speeds of 20 MPH and drifting snow. Going outside is postponed until after lunch to see if Antarctica will let off its wind for a bit so we can head out and maybe search some moraines. The couple feet walk to the poo tent this morning turned into an icy adventure with the windchill being so low. The tears that the wind drove out of my eyes froze instantly, very painful. I’m so not going out there again unless I’m fully dressed in all the possible layers I have. Jim Karner came by earlier today and shoveled our tent entrance free that had drifted closed with the blowing snow. We love the service here 🙂 He also said this is the coldest place he has been to in all his previous ANSMET seasons. I’m not sure what that means but I do know that it is freakin cold here. But then again it is Antarctica after all. And we still love being here, so very much!!!
Juliane, Mt. Cecily Antarctica, Dec. 22nd at 10:40am

-editor’s note :  while the Grosvenor Mountains (Mts Cecily, Emily and Raymond) aren’t the furthest south we’ve been,  it is one of the highest altitude places we’ve worked (above 2600 m, equivalent of close to 3000m in pressure) and thus one of the most “uphill” in terms of radiatively-cooled air and katabatics.  Making it worse is that the local region slopes downhill fairly strongly toward the coast so not only is cold air pushing in from above,  it’s being pulled along downhill too.   But the good news is that Ross Sea weather (more humid, snow-bearing) that often circulates partway up onto the East Antarctic plateau has great difficulty reaching the Grosvenors.