\n
Note: Seeing the last Hobbit movie and using internet that runs at speeds higher than AOL will be nice, but neither of those were on my original list. Maybe I should try Ginko.<\/p>\n
\n
Okay, so it seems we have made excellent time, and we\u2019re landing in 20 minutes, which is about 70 minutes early by my clock. I think the Chief who is our flight attendant is contemplating chucking me off the plane early, however. I mean, it isn\u2019t COMPLETELY beyond the realm of possibility that there was wifi on the plane. Him watching me try to put my seat belt on for 5 minutes probably didn\u2019t help either…I didn\u2019t quite catch what me said but it ended in \u201c\u2026ing beakers\u201d. So I guess I\u2019ll have to continue this later, but I\u2019ll spend the rest of this blog summarizing the last 10 days or so since Jim and I left the field. I\u2019m guessing much of this has already been covered in the blog (what, we don\u2019t read it either), but I\u2019m sure my version will be much funnier, if not nearly as factual.<\/p>\n
\n
So we (Jim and I), were the last ones out in the field. I have to be honest, that was both very cool and very surreal. Now, obviously Johnny is nearly always the last person standing when it comes to pulling out of the field, for the obvious reason that he\u2019s a control freak and wants everything done exactly his way (also known as the only right way). Oh, and maybe it has something to do with safety. Unfortunately for him, this year the circumstances of our pull out necessitated going through CTAM and caching a large amount of material for next year\u2026which he was also the only person able to do that correctly. While John is a man of many many super powers (oh no, I forgot to divulge everyone\u2019s super powers\u2026oh well, they\u2019re secrets are safe for now), being in two places at one time was not one.<\/p>\n
\n
So Johnny and Brian pulled out one day, and then the rest of us pulled out the following day on 6 twin otter flights (3 to CTAM, the other 3 taking us back to McMurdo via CTAM). If that seems like a lot of Twin Otter flights, that is because it is. The way we accomplished this was by having all three of the US Antarctic Program twin otters come to Davis Ward\u2026at the same time. When we told the story back in McMurdo, all we got were blank stares of incredulity\u2026or they were staring at my magnificent beard (I saw it\u2019s 50:50). Not only that, we had the Basler stop by as well to check out if they could land our runway. So if you\u2019re keeping track at home (and of course you should be, as there will be a test at the end), that means we had 2 twin otters on the ground and a twin otter and a basler circling overhead (this represented about 80% of the non-LC130 air power of the Antarctic program in Antarctica). I was seriously advocating that we stage a hostile takeover from McMurdo and starting running flight ops out of Davis-Ward, but the Flight Ops people\u2019s manical laughter and \u201cHave fun\u201d comment made me think maybe it was a bad idea.<\/p>\n
\n
In any case, people started disappearing like it was a horror movie (don\u2019t go into the woods by yourself\u2026it isn\u2019t a hard rule). Every time I turned around, two more people (and all of their gear) had just disappeared. Finally at the last it was just Jim and I sitting there, with a pile of gear, looking at each other going, \u201cthe last plane is coming back right?\u201d and \u201cYou heard him say he was coming back, right?\u201d Eventually they came back.<\/p>\n
\n
Getting back to McMurdo after 5 or 6 weeks in the field is a bit of a jarring experience. I mean, you go from having 6 neighbors to having a 1000 neighbors. I hesitate to call McMurdo civilization, but it sure beats living in a tent. Of course Jim and I had our priorities straight. We got back to MacTown after dinner, but we took care of the necessities in order: (1) Pizza and Coke sitting at a table with a real chair (all three of these things were important), (2) a couple of beers at the bar, (3) showers (to be clear, these happened separately), and (4) sleeping in real beds (again, this was a separate activity). You never know how good a shower is till you haven\u2019t had one in 33 days.<\/p>\n
\n
The next couple of days were a bit of a whirlwind of activity. We have to take all of our gear, sort it, clean it, and return\/store it. Now, we have a lot of gear, and much of it is pretty rank (try sleeping in the same sleeping bag in the same clothes for 35 days; or imagine what a stove looks like after 35 days of continuous usage without cleaning). Still, we powered through the lot of it in about 2 and a half days. Lots of thanks to the lovely ladies at the BFC (Bija, Anna, and Mari come to mind) for helping us get everything situated so quickly. And then the waiting game began.<\/p>\n
\n
We were all scheduled to head north on January 28th<\/sup>, but we arrived in McMurdo on the 20th<\/sup>, and were done with everything by the 23rd<\/sup>. Normally NSF can\u2019t get people out of McMurdo fast enough. If there aren\u2019t planes available, then they start trying to get creative, talking about Sling shots and Catapults (think Wiley Coyote only worse). This year we had to beg to get moved up, and most folks got rescheduled to head out on the 25th<\/sup> (and left on the 26th<\/sup>), while I stayed on my original day, and finally made it out on the 29th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n \n Now if you\u2019re wondering what there is to do with yourself in McMurdo, the recreation options are fairly limited. There\u2019s a few hiking trails, the coffee shop\/wine bar, two dive bars, bad mouthing Ralph when he\u2019s not around (you\u2019d think that was an ANSMET only activity, but not so much), and what I believe is the worlds largest active collection of VHS tapes. These activities do start to wear a little thin, however, especially at the end of a long season where you\u2019re just tired and you want to head home.<\/p>\n \n One sad note, Frosty Boy is no more! He hath passed away, never to be resurrected. Luckily we were able to attend the Memorial Service for Frosty Boy (there was no booze nor any fights, so it couldn\u2019t have been a wake). No seriously, they played Taps, there was a (fake) honor guard, the flag was folded and given to the head chef, and then there were a series of speeches. There isn\u2019t time or space to go into too much detail here, but I can give the most important things I learned about Frosty Boy in the executive summary: (1) everyone who worked on or with Frosty Boy hated that machine\u2026with a passion; (2) Sriracha flavored frosty boy was a bad idea (this really happened); (3) and it\u2019s the navy\u2019s fault that Frosty Boy was in McMurdo, and it was considered old in 1987. Now, fear not that McMurdo\u2019s \u201cice cream\u201d needs are being neglected. Frosty Boy has been replaced by not one but two smaller versions of the same machine (I call them Sons of Frosty Boy), and in the first two weeks of it\u2019s existence, they have been broken more than they have worked. The frosty boy legacy is in good hands.<\/p>\n \n Note: What doesn\u2019t wear thin is watching bad movies with people who can\u2019t handle them. The better I got to know Shannon over the course of the season, the more I came to respect her, but 5 minutes of her bashing Goonies undid most of that respect. Also, watching Vertical Limit (perhaps the least realistic climbing movie of all time, and that\u2019s saying something with Sly Stallone\u2019s Cliffhanger out there) with two Mountaineers was comedy of the highest order. Johnny\u2019s eye just kept twitching\u2026but I think it was like a car accident for him\u2026he just couldn\u2019t look away. It was nice seeing ANSMET veteran Shaun Norman\u2019s name in the credits!<\/p>\n \n Complicating our departure from McMurdo, and complicating our recreation activity options, was the EVOLUTION (and yes, I think it always needs to be capitalized). If that sounds like a grand plan to take over the world very very slowly, it isn\u2019t. It\u2019s the grand name they have given for the 8 day plan to unload the one cargo ship that comes to McMurdo Station each year (there is also a fuel ship that comes later). This brings much\/most of the food and materials that the station needs to survive for the next year. This year\u2019s EVOLUTION was particularly important, since last years EVOLUTION was interrupted mid way through by a storm breaking the ice pier and almost running the ship aground (it left empty, meaning there is two years of trash to offload).<\/p>\n \n The EVOLUTION turned out to be something of a let down for me. I\u2019m not sure what I expected, but while it was undoubtedly interesting to watch a cargo ship unload ~400 pieces of cargo over three days, it basically just translated into watching a few more trucks drive slowly around town hauling cargo containers. Probably the most interesting part of the EVOLUTION was getting to tour the only US heavy ice breaker in operation, the Polar Star. This bad boy is Coast Guard Cutter with 6 engines (3 conventional scres and 3 jet engines) and 75,000 horse power, a 5 inch thick hull, and the ability to cruise continuously through 6-7 feet of ice, and smash through up to 21 feet of ice. Go outside and look up at the eves of your two story house (for those of your with a one story house\u2026start saving up for a real house). That\u2019s about 21 feet. There was also the slight problem that the ice breaker didn\u2019t quite clear out the ice pier as much as I\u2019m guessing the cargo ship would have liked, which in the end required them ramming their way through several feet of intact ice to make it to the dock (oh to hear the radio conversation just then).<\/p>\n \n Eventually, all good things must come to an end, and I finally escaped today. Even better, there were only 21 of us on the plane, and basically no cargo except our baggage, meaning we had tons of space to sit and move around (compared to coming down with 45 people and 3 pallets of cargo). I even let them bring the DVs on my flight. I mean, they asked me if it was okay (I think they were worried I might not have 4 seats to myself like I normally require), but I was feeling magnanimous so I gave the okay. I mean, the secretary of the Air Force and the Lt. General in charge of the Air National Guard (and their peeps) seemed like good people, I was happy to cut them a break. I mean, I even saw the general schlepping his own bags off the plane and across the tarmac. As a smei-professional schlepper myself, this made me happy.<\/p>\n \n Thus, I\u2019m the last one leaving the ice. You know, except for our mountaineers (both the senior and junior varieties). Our Junior Mountaineer (he LOVES this title) is scheduled to head back into the world on February 2, and our Senior Mountaineer (not sure how much he LOVES this title) will be following him a few days later. It will be nice spending a couple of days tramping around the South Island (what? That\u2019s what they call hiking here!), hopefully I\u2019ll get to stop and see Shaun. I\u2019m looking forward to driving on the wrong side of the road (I\u2019ll definitely be channeling my inner Kevin Kleine from A Fish Called Wanda).<\/p>\n \n I can\u2019t promise this will be the last blog post of the year, but I can promise it will be my last one. Thanks to Ralphy and Jimmy for having me down, and thanks to my hundreds and thousands of loyal fans out there for reading along and following my comings and goings\u2026er\u2026OUR comings and goings. Oh, Oh, I just remembered the phrase I was going to starting the effing blog post with\u2026but to go back and change everything would take forever. I know, I\u2019ll just end with it: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish! (Doug Adams).<\/p>\n \n \u2013 Ryan Zeigler, McMurdo, Southern Ocean, Christchurch, Thursday 1\/29\/2015<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 1: Panorama of the camp site as we load the last two planes! Talk about no trace camping (pay no attention to the yellow stains behind the curtain)!<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 2: This was a new one for me. Flying in \u201cformation\u201d with the Twin Otters on the way to CTAM (they aren\u2019t nearly as close as they look with my lens zoomed in).<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 3: You thought I was kidding? The lounge in dorm 208 had two working VHS players as well as a working dedicated VHS rewinder\u2026which of course we used because \u201cBe kind, rewind\u201d.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 4: Want to know what a room full of gross looks like? This is a good example. That\u2019s a 10\u2019 x 8\u2019 x 16\u2019 pile of dirty sleeping bags, waiting to be laundered. Anna for scale (and for the record, I sort of promised Anna I wouldn\u2019t use her picture in the blog, so lets no one tell her it\u2019s here\u2026I needed the scale).<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 5: Here\u2019s the US Coast Guard vessel Polar Star, our only heavy ice breaker. She\u2019s tied up to the \u201cice pier\u201d which is the brown rectangle she\u2019s, you know, tied to. An ice pier is just what it sounds like\u2026a ~12 foot thick pier of ice (made 4 inches at a time over the Antarctic winter) with dirt on top.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 6: This is what a years worth of cargo for an entire continent (sort of) looks like!<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 7: You have to admire a machine that has already inspired signs like this, in its second week of existence. Apparently people keep \u201caccidentally\u201d turning it off, causing it to melt down and need to be cleaned\/serviced\/yelled at to get it going again.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 8: View into the \u201crising sun\u201d (this is technically correct) as we fly home in the morning.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 9: Many many many bits of pack ice floating around, waiting for Antarctic explorers to trap!!<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 10: An ice tongue (where a big glacier comes down off the continent and into the ocean) along our flight path back to Christchurch.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 11: A purttty mountain and clouds as we headed north along the coast of Antarctica.<\/p>\n \n Image Caption 12: Ever wonder if a granola bar (or other inanimate object) is cooler than you? Sure you have. And now you have an answer\u2026YES. This granola bar went to all 7 continents this year. When was the last time you left the county? (And for the record, I just ate the granola bar, so I\u2019m even more cool than I was before.)<\/p>\n \n P.S. Xin ch\u00e0o<\/span> \u0111\u1ebfn<\/span> ng\u01b0\u1eddi v\u1ee3 xinh \u0111\u1eb9p<\/span> c\u1ee7a t\u00f4i<\/span> m\u1ed9t l\u1ea7n n\u1eefa trong<\/span> ng\u00f4n ng\u1eef<\/span> c\u1ee7a ri\u00eang b\u1ea1n<\/span>! Kh\u00f4ng th\u1ec3 ch\u1edd \u0111\u1ee3i<\/span> \u0111\u1ec3<\/span> nh\u00ecn th\u1ea5y<\/span> b\u1ea1n<\/span> m\u1ed9t l\u1ea7n n\u1eefa<\/span> ch\u1ec9 trong m\u1ed9t tu\u1ea7n<\/span>.<\/span> Safe<\/span> \u0111i tr\u1edf l\u1ea1i<\/span> Houston<\/span>! T\u00f4i y\u00eau c\u00e1c b\u1ea1n<\/span>!<\/span><\/p>\n \n \n So one of the reasons that I write these blogs so infrequently, is that I have a terrible short term memory. I mean, I\u2019m not quite the dog from Up (Squirrel!), but if we just met and you told me your name, then I\u2019ve very likely forgotten your name by the time we are done shaking hands. No, seriously. Thus, many times over the past 10 days in McMurdo, I have had a great idea for a blog post, and then an overwhelmingly laziness has spread over me (which really just means it\u2019s Thursday, or Friday, or really any day of the week that ends in Y) and the idea is gone;<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/111\/2015\/01\/14203737\/image110.jpg\")
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