Antarctica: The Beginning

We finally got the word that the weather had cleared up down on the ice, and so at midnight we headed off to the Antarctica terminal, and went through all the usual airport business. Then we boarded the aircraft (Boeing C-17) and headed south. Five hours into the flight, just 30 minutes away from McMurdo, the pilot gave us some bad news "folks your going to feel the bird move to the left a bit, and that movement is us turning around and heading back to Christchurch." Later, we were informed that a storm had quickly moved in causing a instant whiteout on the runway stopping us from being able to land. The next morning we went through the whole process all over again, but were rewarded with sunny skies and a smooth landing.

Me waiting in line with my gear wondering what the hell I'm doing.
The inside of the C-17, not first class by any means
View of Antarctica from the sky
After landing on the ice we quickly shuffled through the dinner line, met our roommates and headed to the bar. The next day I was sent off to "Happy Camp." Where I was taught the necessary skills in order to survive a few nights out on the ice. The final test of the course was to actually spend the night out there, which I did enduring temperatures -30 F and below in a 2 man tent. Our camp before we set up our tents, snow caves, quincy, and wind walls.

Me in front of Mount Erebus (12,451 ft.) the most active volcano in Antarctica.
The tents on the left are Scott tents (four poled and floor less) the same tents designed and used by Robert Scott a 100 years ago for his expeditions across Antarctica. They are very heavy, but setup properly they can withstand winds over 100mph and you can cook in them. To the right of the tents we are setting up a wall of ice to protect our camp from winds, which predominately come from the south. That night they blew hard, but came from the NE and created a bit of problem for those who opted to stay in snow trenches (they neglected to create any defense if the wind came from any other direction causing their trenches to fill up with snow, burying them in the night)
The making of a Quincy (fast igloo). We piled all of our baggage and covered it in a foot of snow, and waited for a couple of hours. Next we dug a out a trench leading into the dome, and removed our baggage. This structure is both very warm and strong - I was able to climb onto the top of it, and I couldn't get it to collapse even after jumping on it.
A couple of guys working on their snow trench.