Flagging

"Use of a vehicle in Antarctica will be strictly for business purposes in support of the mission of the National Science Foundation" -paraphrased from the U.S. Antarctic Program's participant guide

Needless to say it's not easy to get a trip off station without a ride. The hiking trail system is the best on the continent but the only way to get far out onto the sea ice near the wildlife where you can get a true sense of the emptiness down here is to get lucky and go on some sort of "work trip."

I got lucky on Saturday and got to spend a day putting up flags to help scientists find their way home in storms. The flag poles are made out of bamboo so they will biodegrade if the wind breaks them appart or if the ice melts out from under them before they can be retrieved.

We started off the day loading up a Ford pickup that had tracks instead of wheels. Every 150 feet along our route one of us would drill a hole a couple of feet deep into the ice, place a flag into it and pack the snow around the flagpole.

The drill we were using had a chainsaw engine and a three foot long auger bit. A second bit could be added to the end to in order to drill through the sea ice and check its thickness. (there was ocean about 5 feet under our feet for the whole day)

The drill did a good job for most of the day until the starter cord froze and broke. After that I was nominated to use the old-school hand drill and find out just how tough sea ice can be. The ice is dense enough in some places that all of the air bubbles are forced out and it has a very deep blue color.

Flagging was a good change from work but the best part of the trip was getting a chance to experience the vastness of the ice. The sky was white and the snow-covered sea ice was white. At one point I could look in any direction and only see white. When the clouds lifted the sky was still overcast but I could see glaciers rising out of the sea miles away.

It's easy to go overboard when describing nature but there is no way to capture what it felt like to see so much white punctuated by sheer black volcanic cliffs. I did post a couple more pictures on my website to give you an idea.

One of the routes we flagged was to a place in near an island where seals spend time on the surface. The ice pushes up against the rock forming "pressure rigdes" or mountains of ice. As the pressure ridges rise gaps form in the ice where seals can chew their way through.

The seals looked big and lazy but they are protected from "harrassment" by international treaty so we kept our distance.

The day was a truly awesome change of pace. Lots of people who come to McMurdo never make it out of town so I am feeling quite blessed to have seen what few humans have, or ever will, see.

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