Castle Rock

Today Julien (he works on the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System Project - the model that I use for my disseration research) and I hiked up to Castle Rock. The hike is about a 6 mile round trip and leaves out of McMurdo. The goal of the hike was to reach the top of this rock.

Castle Rock - photo courtesy of Julien Nicolas

My first thought when I saw Castle Rock was that it belongs somewhere in Utah, not Ross Island, Antarctic. My second thought was "how are we ever going to get to the top of that?" Approaching the Rock did not give me much reassurance.


As we rounded the backside of the Rock we found a trail and the rope system that the McMurdo mountaineers have set up. We very carefully made our way to the top and were rewarded with some amazing views.

It was quite windy and cold at the top, so we did not stay long before heading back to McMurdo. Although, even though it was cold and windy, it felt great to get out of McMurdo and see something new.

Photo courtesy of Julien Nicolas