A photo of the Royal Society Range as seen from Hut Point, on our last walk before the team disbanded.
Well, that’s it. Game over. Fin. Done. I thought I’d give some final thoughts, the last blog from me, and perhaps from the 2015-2016 team.
But first, some more details. As you read from Ralph’s post, Nina, Morgan, Cindy and Ellen all left McMurdo on a shuttle bound for Willy Field at 10:15 AM, Saturday 23. The LC-130 should take a little more than 8 hours to get to Christchurch. Once at Christchurch, and back at the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC), they’ll then spend an hour or so sorting out clothing, returning their gear and repacking for their flights home or their onward stay in NZ (note from rph: more like 10 minutes). They’ll head into town and collapse of exhaustion at their hotels I’m sure. Meanwhile, Jim and Brian are on their way back to McMurdo, via the Shackleton camp. They’ll be back for dinner. As it’s Sunday tomorrow, the four of us will have to wait until Monday before we can begin to close down operations here – cleaning our tent gear, returning equipment and storing things for next year. We should be ready to leave sometime in the middle of next week, all things being equal.
Johnny and I had our sixth and final chance to get out to Elephant Moraine today. The day started as usual – 6:00 am wake up. 6:30 breakfast. 7:00 get dressed and wait at the phones for a go/no-go decision. If the weather wasn’t good, we’d be on a weather hold until 10:00, at which time they’d either let us fly, or scrub us for the rest of the day. Getting dressed took time and effort – 3 layers of thermal undershirts and 2 thermal underpants. Then 2 layers of pull overs, then the snow pants. 2 pairs of wooly socks and the white standard military issue bunny boots. Then neck scarf, and big red. And then waiting for the phone to ring. Tired of reading this yet!? Try doing it, over and over and over again. To me, the routine must be what it’s like (to a very small degree) for astronauts when they go up in the Space Shuttle, only for their launch to be scrubbed, over and over again. All dressed up and no where to go.
Obviously, the last five days have been a bust. The weather today was spectacular at McMurdo. We could see all the way across the bay to the Royal Society Range and the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which also look amazing. We finally got the call – 30 knot winds, drifting snow at 1200 ft of visibility at the LZ. No-go. John and I were bitterly disappointed. This was our chance to be daring. This was our chance to go and see how this blue ice field has changed since the last time ANSMET and Johnny had be there, some 15 years ago. The insights gleaned on the long-term resupply of meteorites in a region already systematically searched would have been unique and invaluable. And it was a chance for me to really test my metal; to compare and contrast it to the massive eight person team a week ago. Damn it! The ladies were definitely feeling sorry for us.
After breakfast, we went for a walk to Discovery point, for their last look at the sea ice and the mountains. They then packed up and left for Willy. For all of us newbies (and even for Morgan on her second tour), we felt extremely privileged to have been granted this amazing opportunity. Not many people will ever be able to come down to Antarctica, let alone set foot in a deep field site for an extended amount of time. For some of us, it’s hard not to feel melancholy at the end the season (sorry Ralph, we tried otherwise). We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished, as individuals, and as a team. But it’s time to get back to our loved ones, and our daily lives. We’ll always remember the first time we rode that skidoo, and the first time over blue ice as it crackled like it’d give way. Or putting up camp in -40F wind chill. Each and every team member will have their stories and thoughts to tell. Go find them, ask them. I’m also reminded of the amazing post by our great sage Sir Ralph at the beginning of the season (http://caslabs.case.edu/ansme
Where have all my friends gone?! Lonely penguin on the ice. 🙁
I’ll have a few more days to enjoy the views, soaking as much of it up as possible. Those thoughts I’ll keep to myself, for myself. Until next time (hell yeah I want to come back!), Bonsoir, Mon Amie.
– from Con, signing off. January 23, 2016. McMurdo Base, Ross Island, Antarctica.