McMurdo

We made it out of Christchurch on our next try - Saturday January 4th! The shuttle picked us up from the hotel at 6:30 am and we traveled to the CDC. At the CDC I repacked my gear, merging the gear I brought from home with the gear that was issued to me. Then I traveled next door to check in for the flight.

Even though this flight is run through the US Air Guard, the check in process is fairly similar to the process at a regular airport. I had to show my passport and get a boarding pass. The boarding pass is not a typical boarding pass. Instead, it is a laminated number attached to a chain that is worn around your neck until you board the plane. The luggage process includes verifying that your carry on bag meets the dimension restrictions (a testing box is provided for this), that your checked luggage is below the weight restrictions (a total of 150 lbs), and that you have not packed anything hazardous in your checked baggage. The main difference is that you do not need to remove your shoes when you walk through the metal detector.

After we were checked in, we watched a safety video and took a shuttle bus to the tarmac. The LC130 was awaiting our arrival. 

LC130 on the tarmac in New Zealand

I think this plane is cool because it has a combination of wheels and skis. Obviously, the wheels are used while the plane is in New Zealand and the skis are used while the plane is in Antarctica.

When we boarded the flight, I was the second to last person to board the plane. Somehow, I was still lucky enough to score a seat directly in front of a window. Being located near a window is key to looking at the beautiful Antarctic scenery during the flight.

Me on the LC130 on my way to Antarctica - check out the window behind me

Our flight was pretty uneventful (just the way I like my flights). We left around 9:30 am and arrived around 5:30 pm. Here are a few pictures from along the way.

You can see a chain of mountains in the background. I assume this must be an island, since we saw it long before the mainland.

 

Open ocean water in the foreground, sea ice in the middle, and our first glimpse of Antarctica in the upper left corner.

The scenery over the continent is just incredible.

The picture below was taken just prior to landing. The black dots in the center, right of the picture are the Pegasus airfield, or the airport. The "stripe" through the center of the picture is the runway. The landing for this flight was incredibly smooth and I'm guessing it should be credited to a combination of a great pilot, the LC130 skis, and a nicely groomed runway.

 

 It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 40's (about 60 degrees warmer than Maine, where Tom and Emma were located).

Mt. Erebus is in the background. It is the southernmost active volcano.

LC130 on the Ice

 Me on the Ice

Due to the warm temperatures, the snow road was quite bumpy, which made for an interesting ride into town. A bunch of us loaded up in a 15 passenger van and I'll just say that it was quite a wild ride. 

We made it to town, went through welcome training, got our room assignments, picked up our luggage, and grabbed dinner. I feel very fortunate to call that a good day at work. I hope you're all doing well back home.