The Holidays Are Here!

This is my second season being away from home during the holidays and I am finding being away from home easier than I did last year.  Knowing that I am able to call home and e-mail whenever I want to makes it easier and I also purchased gifts for my nieces and nephew before I left home for Antarctica.  It is weird being here away from all the tv commercials and all the holiday decorations from back home.    Some of the hall ways of dorms are decorated, there are decorations outside around town and even our work center is decorated, so you know Christmas is coming.  It just doesn't feel like it 2 weeks away.  Also with the holidays coming I will be switching shifts going from the Night Shift to Day Shift and will be on the down hill slide to my contract.

Since I last wrote anything we have changed airfields and are now working out of Pegasus 14 miles away.  I have been trained to drive the Kress vehicle, if you remember the big red machine that I post pictures of from last year.  I am looking forward to driving that more often as the season goes on.  I have been able to drive it twice this season and it is fun.  I was also able to this week to assist with securing two A-Star Helicopters for transport from town to Pegasus airfield so that they could fly out to PIG field camp.  Along with working with the two helicopters I was also responsible for palletizing all of the cargo that was needed for the helicopters to be able to fly once they reach their destination.  Which was challenging but also a great learning opportunity for me at the same time.  Other than that the amount of work and cargo that we have had to palletize for flights has lessened with the seasonal stoppage of  C-17 flights which has been nice with the smaller teams we have this season and with the long drive to and from Pegasus airfield.

Well that is all for now, hope you enjoy the pictures in this add.  Also we found out today that the mailing address has changed and is now as follows:

Tim Schunck
McMurdo Station  - ASC
PSC 769 Box 700
APO AP 96599-1035

We had a bit of a wind storm here last week, these are the snow drifts that formed.

It is a harsh continent down here.

My good friend Audrey is working down here this season, she is the one who helped me get in down here.  It is nice to have your oldest friend around.

One of the 2 helicopter we sent out this week on a LC-130

Some of the helo parts

These are the main rotors for the helicopters.  We were asked not to strap them down by running anything over the top.  We had to be a little creative in securing them so that they could fly.  Thank you JI Dwayne for your help.

The Big Red Kress Vehicle, it is 98' long and if you are lucky can get up to 26 mph.  The ride is much nicer than in a delta and you can actually carry up to 7 extra passengers if you need to.

A few more photos.

I don't have a lot to write today so I figured a few photos would keep everyone entertained.  Hope all it is well with everyone.

Tim

Cape Evan and Scott's Terra Nova Hut

This year I helped out set up for the Halloween party since the party was the weekend we transitioned to nights and I had helped last year I knew it would help me stay up and would be a fun time.  Little did I know that by helping out I would get the trip to go to Cape Evans out of it.

To give you a little back ground, this hut was built by Robert Falcon Scott in 1911 and is about 12 miles north of McMurdo on Cape Evans.  This hut was built by Scott for his expedition to the South Pole.  Having been inside the Discovery Hut here at McMurdo as well, I can say that Scott learned from his mistakes.  This hut was built better to withstand the environment down here.  The size is bigger and the furnishings seem to have made it more comfortable for Scott and his team than what they would have lived in the Discovery Hut.  Scott even added an enclosed stable and storage area to this hut for his horses, dogs and supplies.  Not sure why someone would have brought a bicycle with them here back than but there is a bike hanging up on the wall.

On our way out the the hut we stopped and saw some Weddel seals, the Erebus Glacier tongue and Ice Cave and on our way back we stopped at another glacier that was much bigger and higher.  To get out there and back we rode in a Hagglund and the whole trip lasted about 7 hours.  All in all, I can't say how lucky I am to get to see some the most historic and endangered places in this world.  I need to remind myself this everyday that I am down here.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Tim

Some Weddel Seals

The Erebus Glacier Tongue

Looking at Tent Island from on the Glacier Tongue

 Looking out onto the Ross Sea from the Glacier

Inside the Ice Cave

The cool Ice Crystals

Looking up at the icicles 

An Ice Crystal

Scott's Terra Nova Hut

The Plaque at the Entrance to the Hut

It is hard to read but a member of the expedition was keeping track of who died.

Another view of the hut

Looking South at Castle Rock (the tall point in the distance on the right, I hiked there from McMurdo last year) the 2 islands are Big Razorback on the right and Little Razorback on the left

Looking at Tent island and Inaccessible island on the right

A memorial to the 3 individuals lost that were written inside the hut.

Looking back at the Hagglund.

The other glacier we went to.

A sea ice crack

The following pictures are from my friend Dacre Dunn who won his trip for his Halloween Costume and got to go with us.  Hope you enjoy his pictures as well.

 The bike I talked about earlier

Inside the hut

We did a group shot of all of us in front of the big glacier

This is a map of the trip we took, McMurdo is at the bottom and Cape Evans is at the top.