McMurdo the Beautiful

Things are going really well down here on the ice. I had my first day of firsts the other day. I hiked up Observation Hill and took some pictures, went to the green house and took some pictures, then found a sauna in one of the dorms to use (sorry no picutres). This last Saturday night we had a Halloween party. I got dressed up like a gnome, sort of. There were a lot of crazy costumes at the party. The costume contest lasted about an hour because there were about 100 people who wanted to be judged... not me!


I need to have another day of firsts... like hiking out to Hut Point or Castle Rock or taking a nap or reading a book in the green house. I'm going to be scheduling myself for Snow School sometime in November (hopefully later in the month when it's warmer). Snow School teaches you how to dig a snow cave and I don't know what else, but it is an overnight trip and you get to sleep in the snow cave you dig... Don't worry, despite the weather warming up, there's about 100 feet of snow (so I'm told) that will be there to dig and sleep in.

This here is a picture I took of Mt. Erebus (in the background) and Castle Rock (in the foreground) when I was on top of Ob Hill.

Arriving to Antarctica

I'M ON THE ICE...
I've finally made it to the ice after having a week off of work to prepare and then several days of travel to get here. This is a lovely picture of me in my issued parka. It may look silly and overstuffed, but it's definately not overkill! When I arrived on the ice yesterday, it was nearly Condition 2 weather with it being -60 F and high winds. I thought the 20 yard walk to the shuttle vehicle from the C-17 was going to frost bite my nose off. I must admit though, I like the sensation of frozen boogers and nose hairs.
Despite the cold weather, my dorm is a nice hot sauna. Apparently the thermostat which controls the entire side of my hall is broken and thinks that it must heat everything up to 110 F. I slept with my window and door open last night and it was the perfect temperature, even with it being -30 F outside!
My dorm is named Mammoth Mountain Inn, NSF Berthing and also Building #188. As I am finding, nearly everything has three names, nicknames, acronyms, or numbers to designate what you're refering to. Needless to say, it is very confusing at first for newcomers... Luckily there is a map provided at the orientation welcome that lists all names and numbers... Just finding it on the map is the last challenge...