Down here we have a 6-day working week, with Sunday being the only day of our weekend. So when it's a nice day on that Sunday, you've really got to make the most of it.
So after brunch, Rachelle and I headed out for a wander around the Pressure Ridges. Here we found some fresh Adelie Penguin tracks in the snow. They looped around a bit, as it obviously came across the barrier of the pressure ridges and decided to try a different route.
Since last year, they're relaxed the recreational safety requirements considerably, and now you can go on pretty much any recreational trail by yourself as long as you take a radio. You also don't have to take your full ECW gear. They also have cross-country ski's which you can use, and I made good use of them on this day! I started by going for a ski around Cape Armitage, which is on the sea-ice and goes around the bottom of Observation Hill. This took a little bit of getting used to, as I hadn't done any cross-country skiing since last time I was down here. It was still a nice trip, and quite the workout.
Then after dinner, I decided to have a go at the Castle Rock Loop, which I didn't do last year. The round-trip is about 19km and it took me 4 hours. I took my skis, but walked most of it, and skiied the last 4-5km back to Scott Base along the ice shelf. I was going to do it with a couple of crazy Germans who are down here playing with radar and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) - a very cool project. However they are pretty fit and good skiiers and had normal downhill ski's. So the idea was that i'd start an hour and a half ahead of them, and they'd catch up to me. As it turned out, the terrain was well suited to my type of travel, so I actually took less time than they did, and arrived back well before them. Unfortunately my little camera isn't as good in the cold as my SLR, so it stopped working about half-way round the loop, which was disappointing. It's fine now, and I just need to keep it closer to my body to keep it warm.
Anyway, onto the photos...
Halloween:
Some Kiwis 
Mario-Kart! 
More Kiwis 
It felt like uni again- drinking while it's still light outside!
Pressure Ridges:
Adelie Penguin Tracks
Cape Armitage:
Crater Hill:
Hey Dave --- All the Fergusons are enjoying your blog. Thanks to your mom for sharing your links. Fun to see your bike trip and all the pictures !
ReplyDeleteIn an odd coincidence, I ran across the name of a fellow that would be slightly older than I, so a 'grey hair' that's also on the Ice. His name is Stephen Raver and went to Medford High in Medford, Oregon a year ahead of me. Not sure that I personally know him, but it's a small world. I think he's a Mechanic kind of person and is perhaps there until February. How many people are there hanging out on Antartica anyway?
Glad you had fun celebrating Halloween and are making friends with the pretty penguins !
Judy
Hi Judy, glad to see you're enjoying the blog!
ReplyDeleteOh ok, he's probably based at McMurdo Station across the hill. There's about 1500 people there, which compared to our 60-80 at Scott Base is quite a lot! McMurdo is the largest base on the continent.
Halloween was definitely interesting, seeing as we don't really do it in NZ..
Keep enjoying the blog- I'll try and write more soon!