A fun week in Antarctica!

So one week has passed since I shaved my head. I will say I regretted my choice a little bit when I first saw the results and on Monday when it was cold and windy at the airfield. I needed to wear my beanie and neck gator for the first time since early November. Now that one week has passed everyone is recognizing me again and all my hair is starting to grow back, surprising most people down here. I hope you like the week after picture and are not as scared by it. I have decided to grow the beard in again, but I think this time I won't let it get as long and keep it shorter.

First day, results

Week one hair. Thoughts?

So on to this week, I was at the airfield all week long. As the season as progressed the road to the airfield as gotten better so the commute is a whole lot better than back in December. I timed the ride out to and back into town driving one of our Deltas and it 46 minutes out to and 44 minutes back into town. So with the Ipod in one ear driving by yourself isn't that bad. I guess the many years of driving at South Suburban got me use to driving all day by myself. Thank goodness for good music. I was also asked if I wanted to work the early shift, starting at 5:00 am and getting off work at 5:00 pm. I realized jut how much nicer this shift is compared to the late shift. I wish I has volunteered to work the early shift earlier than this past week. The airfield operations picked up this week with good weather for both the LC-130's and C-17's, this helps us out by making the day go a whole lot faster. On Thursday we has a C-17 come in with 2 milvans (containers) that needed to go back into town. One weighed just over 10,000 lbs and the second was over 24,000 lbs. Our loaders at the strip can lift the 10,000 lb milvan onto a Delta but we chose to be safe and barrow a different loader to make the lift. The second milvan at 24,000 lbs was a different story, at the airfield we do not have anything that can lift that much weight, so we needed to use 3 loaders, our 2 Cat 950G's and a Cat 966 to make the lift. I was asked to operate one of our 950's to make the lift. Once we got the milvan into the air, we back a Delta under and lower the milvan into place. I hope to get the pictures of this onto a future blog for everyone to see. I am glad to say we were able to safely complete the task and get the milvan back into town without any problems. Though this situation from the sounds of it will become more common and we may have to change operations up a bit with the possibility of more milvans coming in on future C-17's due to the vessel problems. So we will see how things go from here.

I also volunteered to stay here longer than my original contract. So I may be here till March 9th to finish helping with all the cargo movements. I have also volunteered to be a "Line Handler" for both the fuel vessel and the resupply vessel. Which means I help tie the ships up our warf, it should be fun and interesting work. I have been given a pager so that I can be notified when I need to report to work for it. I hope to get some good pictures out of it and even a tour of the boat.

Our cargo team challenged the other 2 teams on our shift to a disc golf challenge this week. So far we are the only ones to have played but Beer and Burgers are on the line for this one so I hope our score holds up and we win.

I hope all is well with everyone, till next time.

Tim

This is "Big Johns Crack" off of Hut Point. Starting to get some open water.

Mt. Erebus from the airfield.

Picking the milvan off the C-17 sled.

Going in for the triple pick

We got Fat Tire!

The Kress at the airfield with retro cargo.

McMurdo from OB Hill

One of the LDB Balloon research vessels.

The balloon being filled before launch

The end nears.

Well it is hard to believe but the end to this adventure is quickly approaching. I found out that I am scheduled to leave on February 22. Though I have been told that this date could change to have me stay longer. I am glad that I have both a flexible schedule and a group of family and friends that understand this. So we shall see what happens. If I leave on the 22 I hope to spend 3 weeks in New Zealand traveling around the South Island and than 4 days in Sydney and 4 days in Honolulu and will be back in Denver on March 24. Hopefully in time to celebrate my niece Orlys first birthday and welcome into the world my new niece. I can't wait to see, hold and play with Andy, Breandan and Orly again.

Now onto a different topic. Having been here now for close to 3 months, I have seen a lot and at time wished I had my camera, now I find myself carrying my camera with me, but not using it as much anymore. I am not sure why but I hope to see something new for photos to share but I also realize that I am having fun with my friends and just forget to take pictures. I am amazed by the different activities that go on down here. We had a dodgeball tournament last weekend, this weekend there was a softball tournament, this upcoming weekend there is a marathon, there are craft fairs, auctions and fundraisers. These activities make McMurdo feel a lot more like home. I have played in the dodgeball tournament and the softball tournament. I think that if I come back next year I want to help out the with softball tournament more. I know with my background I can make it more fun and safer for everyone. This weekend I also participated in a Mustache Roulette, this is not something easy to describe but just know that those of us who entered into the contest lost our beards and had different designs shaved into them. I had a design that would not work with my beard so I up'd the anti and said that highest bidder could chose what I got. Highest bidder won with me shaving my whole head. So now I look like I am under going cancer treatment. It is a little weird looking into the mirror in the morning but I am okay with my choice knowing that the money that was raised went to Prostate cancer research. In the end the night made $813.00.

This past week a group of us took a picture in front of the McMurdo sign in the "Tebow" pose and from the sounds of it we made it onto both local and national tv, tebowing.com and on the Denver Post website. What a week.

I hope you enjoy the pictures this week and I apologize if my bald head scares you.

A Skua at LDB

A rock on the Ob Hill Loop trail

McMurdo sound from Ob Hill Loop

Tebowing in front of the sign

A group shot

Throwing a Frisbee around at the airfield

Playing baseball at the airfield

A little more baseball

Before I got my head shaved

After I got my head shave. Head, eyebrows and beard all gone.

A New Year

Wow, another year has passed and look where I am. A year ago I was only talking about coming here to Antarctica, in March I applied, in June I interviewed, in July I was offered the job, in September I got ready to come down and I have been gone from the states since October 17. How fast it has gone, but filled with so many new memories that I will never forget. From my dad riding his bicycle from San Diego to Shreveport at 71, my new niece Orly coming into this world on March 20 to going out on a new adventure with all the love and support of my family, making new friends what is in store for 2012. I hope much of the same with another new niece around the end of March, maybe some spring training in Florida, some traveling in a new country or two and hopefully coming back here again next season with the same group of individuals who have made this experience unbelievable, who have been there for me when the seasonal blues hit, those that I can talk to and relate to with personal experiences both good and bad and get a few more brothers and sisters out of it. Thank you all again for all of your support this past year.

Onto New Years McMurdo style, having 2 days off work in a row for the holiday is great. We had wonderful weather on Saturday and a large group of us went on a hike to Castle Rock. Castle Rock is about a 3 mile walk from McMurdo, mostly on a glacier. The nice thing with the large group that went with we all found our own little group for a comfortable walking pace and we were all at Castle Rock in under 2 hours. Once at Castle Rock to climb to the top you need to use a rope for hand holds in certain spots or you will fall off, it is a weird feeling being that close to falling off but well worth it. Once on top you could see for miles around, open water to the north, Mt Erebus, both White and Black Islands and the Royal Society mountain range. After spending some time onto we climb down and did a little sledding on a tray from the galley and if you had one a slick jacket worked well to. We laughed a lot on both the walk and while sledding, in the end a great time.

We got back from our hike about 4 in the after noon and relaxed for the festivities for the rest of the night. On New Years Eve they have both a chili cook off and a music festival called Ice Stock where different bands that have formed or people that play together here put on a show. It was a great time. It was weird being outside at midnight with the sun out to ring in the New Years. We had great weather all day which was nice, people said last year was cold and crappy. I was even wearing shorts for most of the festivities.

Now that the new year has come, redeployment is on everyones mind here. It is hard to believe that this adventure is coming to an end soon. So this week I have a redeployment meeting to go to so I can figure out when I am leaving. I need to start thinking about where I am going after I get back to New Zealand. Hopefully I can find some people to travel with and want to got to some of the same places I would like to go to but also see something that they want to. I hope that I have a job lined up for when I get back, but I am not letting that worry me and just live in the now down here. I have also finally been checked out on the Kress vehicle, now named "Lucifer". It rides a lot like one of our large loaders but with a lot more speed and power. From the sounds of it, we may not use it this year for moving cargo but there is always next year.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday season and are enjoying the new year.

Tim

Most of the photos came from 2 of my coworkers. I have realized my point and shoot just doesn't give good quality photos in the bright sun and snow here. I was also in the moment while on the walk and at Ice Stock and didn't take a lot of photos. Hope you enjoy these. So I think a new camera will be making the trip with me next year.

Leaving McMurdo for Castle Rock

A little warning

Hiking down off Castle Rock

Using the rope to hold on

Castle Rock

Hiking back from Castle Rock

Mt. Erebus behind me

All of us that went hiking

Sledding on our backs

Using a tray to sled down

Wearing shorts on New Years in Antarctica!

Having fun on New Years at Ice Stock

Most of the department at Ice Stock

"Lucifer" the Kress vehicle

A few photos from last week at the airfield

I didn't see these Adelie penguins since I was at Happy Camper but they will be back and I will see them than. I saw about 40 from off Hut Point on Tuesday evening about 100 yards away.

Running the loader behind a LC-130. If you look carefully you can see how close the tail and the cab are to touching. The antennas on the loader rattle around when you are under the plane.

Video from the condition 1 storm.

Here is some video I shot walking to lunch in a condition 1 storm about a week and a half ago. It wasn't that cold, just really windy. Hope you like it.