Hi all, Ralph here. In two hours I leave home for Antarctica. This will be my 24th trip in 30 years (my first trip was in 1987). Still, I'm as nervous as I've ever been! There are Triassic-sized butterflies in my tummy. I'll be en route to Christchurch for roughly 28 hours...
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When working in McMurdo, your sense of time is compressed into three days – yesterday, today and tomorrow. For the life of me, I cannot keep track of what day it is. I can remember what I did yesterday. I know what I am doing today. And I know...
This morning reminded me of winters as a boy in Jamestown, New York. A gentle snow was falling and there was no wind at all. The falling snow muffles sound and McMurdo was quieter than normal. The twoish inches of snow we got hid rocks, icy patches, and ruts...
One of the reasons I enjoy coming to Antarctic is the enormous beauty of the place. Even while in McMurdo Station, the view across the frozen Ross Sea to the Royal Society Range or Mount Discovery and Mount Morning is breathtaking. You would not imagine that a landscape dominated...
Sorry ANSMET fans, but this will be a relatively short and image-free post. The latter is due to the very slow internet connection currently available. My cameras take fairly large image files and I fear that uploading them might take longer than I am willing to...
A very quick note- the boys made it to McMurdo on yesterday's flight. Duck has promised an update soon. In the meantime, enjoy this image that answers the eternal question "Do you see penguins when you go down there?"
-posted by rph from Cleveland
Monday the 14th of November started early for Brian, John and me. Just around midnight I was awakened by my bed shaking - more swaying back-and-forth - in a slow, but insistent motion. Even though I was befuddled by sleep, I knew what was going on: Earthquake! I dutifully got up...
Heard the following from Duck: "By now you know we had a pretty good shaking here at midnight. Exciting! We are on 24 hr. delay; no reason given but I assume weather".
I won't pretend to be authoritative- you have the internet, you can find information. But to summarize, a big...
Freezing-my-butt-off is getting closer to reality. I arrived in Christchurch the morning of 12 Nov. (still 11 Nov. in the US), and made my way to the hotel. Once ensconced in a room, I wandered down into the city center to grab lunch. The last time I was in...
As I write this Duck Mittlefehldt should be in NZ, and Brian Rougeux and John Schutt should be too. But the latter spent an extra night in LA when the plane they were supposed to take to Auckland got boxed in by another airliner hitting a baggage cart. Ooopsy! But...