Chris' Trip to Antarctica - 2010: November 2010

It has been a relatively uneventful couple weeks out at work, just settling into the daily grind. Wake up at 630, eat breakfast, 1/2hr ride to work, eat lunch at work, leave work about 530, 1/2hr ride back to town, dinner, try and find something to do for about 2hrs, then go to bed. Been playing some ping pong and pool, and played basketball once.

I actually got a day off last weekend, so me and 3 other guys decided to go on the longest hike you can take around McMurdo Station. It is called the Castle Rock Loop and it is about a 9 mile hike from start to finish. The route starts in McMurdo Station (near sea level), eventually reaches Castle Rock, then a climb to the top of Castle Rock (which is 1361 feet above sea level), then circles around back to McMurdo. The first part of the hike was absolutely grueling. It is pretty much 45 minutes of an almost 45 degree incline, and it was cold - wind chill was about -20 degrees. The middle part of the hike is still slightly uphill, but not too bad, and the temperature warmed up to a very pleasant 5 degrees. The hike to Castle Rock is across a glacier and you cannot stray even a little bit off the route because you run the risk of falling into a crevasse hidden in the snow. 2 people actually died on the trail about 5 years ago when they went off the marked path.

After about 2 hours of hiking, we finally reached the base of Castle Rock. Castle Rock is basically what's left of an ancient volcano that has eroded away over the years. It was about a 200 foot climb from the base to the top. The climb up was not extremely difficult - they have ropes installed along the path to help out. After reaching the top, the views were absolutely amazing -great views of Mount Erebus, Ross Island, the Ice Shelf, glaciers, and the Transantarctic Mountains. Definitely worth the effort to get there.

We stayed up there for about 30 minutes before coming down and completing the loop. The entire trip was about 5 hours long, and will definitely be an experience I will never forget. Needless to say, I slept very well that night (and the night after). Below are some pictures from the trip.

Castle Rock from about a mile away

At the base of Castle Rock (that's me sitting on the rock in front)

Me climbing up Castle Rock

View from the top towards Mount Erebus

View from the top back toward McMurdo Station,

with the Transantarctic Mountains off in the distance.

The faint line in the glacier is the path we took

Me at the top!

Towards the end of the loop looking back at where we came from.

Well this makes my second year in Antarctica. I can honestly say I was really not looking forward to this trip very much. Last time I came, I was pretty excited about coming because I thought it was going to be cool and a neat experience. It was all of that for about 2 weeks, then it seemed like I would never get to leave. This year I kind of knew what to expect. That being said, I am trying to make the most of it so the time passes by faster.

The trip down this year was relatively uneventful. The trip consisted of flights from Tyler, TX to DFW to LAX to Auckland to Christchurch, then 2 nights in Christchurch then on to McMurdo Station Antarctica. For the most part all of my flights were relatively on time. Had almost a 7 hour layover at LAX that seemed to last forever. Luckily this year, I was able to travel first class for the entire trip and I was able to use the ultra fancy executive lounge at LAX, eat some good food, have a couple of drinks, rest and even take a shower. Then I boarded the 13 hour flight to Auckland. I must say that the first class seats on Qantas are amazing. The seats are motorized and move in about 25 different directions, and even will lay totally flat. Might seem kind of unimportant, but I can NEVER sleep on a plane, and because I was actually able to lay down, I slept for almost 7 hours of the trip, and was pretty well rested by the time I got to New Zealand. The food on the plane was also excellent.

After about a 3 hour layover in Auckland, and a short 1 hour flight, I finally arrived in Christchurch. My time in Christchurch was the only part of the trip that I was even remotely looking forward to. Christchurch is an amazing city, and there is tons of stuff to do in the downtown area where my hotel was. I really didn't know what to expect this year though because in September they had a massive 7.2 earthquake that did a lot of damage to the city. Most of the damage had been repaired but there was still quite a lot noticeably different from my last trip. Still a lot of construction and some demolition taking place.

I got to my hotel around 4pm. I walked around downtown for a while, grabbed some dinner at a Japanese restaurant (the Asian food in NZ is very good), and went to sleep fairly early. About 5am, I woke up when my bed started shaking. It was a small earthquake, only about 3.8, but is was very shallow and very close so, it felt stronger. Being in a 10 story building, in a city that just had a 7.2 earthquake, it was slightly unnerving, but I quickly fell back to sleep. I ended up sleeping 13 hours that night. Travelling (in spite of the sleep I had on the LAX flight) is exhausting to me.

I woke up the next morning to great weather and feeling pretty rested. I wanted to walk around the city and do some sightseeing, but had to go the Antarctic Center and get my Extreme Cold Weather Gear that they issue us. 2 hours later (and 2 more small earthquakes later), I was back at my hotel and the weather had turned absolutely miserable - 40 degrees, 40mph wind and pouring down rain. It was brutal. I tried to walk around for a while and do some stuff inside. I went inside the Christchurch Cathedral and climbed to the top of the spire, went inside a small aquarium and ate an early dinner at a small Thai restaurant, and went in a few shops. The weather just kept getting worse, and I was back in my hotel by about 5, disappointed that I didn't get to do more. Hopefully the weather will be better on my return trip.

My flight to Antarctica was scheduled to leave at 11am the next morning. I had to be at the Antarctic center at 8:30. I was kind of dreading the flight, because it had been posted that the flight would be on a C-130. The C-130 flights last 8 hours, they are very noisy and very cramped. Instead when I got there, I was pleasantly surprised to find a C-17 waiting. The C-17 flight takes only 5 hours, they are much quieter, and have tons of room to stretch out and walk around. Ended up arriving in McMurdo Station about 4pm. Everything looks exactly the same as it did last time.

Will post more later. Below are some pictures of Christchurch!

A trolley in downtown Christchurch