Antarctica, Austral Summer 2019 - 2020 (Part 4 - Science and Exploration)
After finishing my shift on Tuesday night (Wednesay morning technically) at 1:00 AM, I decided to stay up until 4:00 AM to watch the sunrise since I didn’t have work the next day. As we move into the summer here at McMurdo, the sun will eventually stop setting and will stay in the sky for almost six months before setting again.
I went to the computer lab to browse the internet to keep awake until then. While there, Jay, who was enjoying his day off, walked by and we started talking. Jay and I have very similar personalities and we hit it off since day one. We literally talked for about three or four hours. We talked so long that I lost track of time and almost missed the sunrise. I put on my ECW clothing and ran outside to catch the sunrise. It was a thing of pure beauty.
I stayed outside as long as I could before the cold became unbearable. I headed to my dorm at around 5 AM and went to sleep for a few hours. Earlier that morning in the galley, I struck up a conversation with Kevin, one of the techs that launches the weather balloons for the station and he invited me to come help launch one of the balloons. My alarm sounded at 10:30 to wake me up for the launch. I never bothered to fully take off my ECW gear so I put on my parka and left my room. I had invited three other galley employees, Jake, Katharine, and Arthur to tag along.
We met in the lounge on the second floor of our dorm building and headed to the MacOps building where the weather forecasting operations are located and from there we made it to the waste management plant on the edge of town from where the balloon launches take place. Kevin explained the purpose of the weather balloons and how they are launched in conjunction with thousands of others around the world at the same time twice a day every day.
The balloon goes up to 80,000 feet or so, sending back readings along the way before the balloon bursts and crashes back down to the earth. When factoring the cost of the data collector (which is never recovered), the balloon itself, and the helium required to reach the proper altitude, each launch costs a few hundred dollars.
Kevin let us initial the data collector before we stepped outside to release the balloon. Kevin handed me the collector and I held it in the palm of my hand. When Katharine released the balloon, it flew into the sky at an incredible speed. Kevin explained that the balloon needs to be traveling at or about 5 meters per second so it quite literally flew out of our hands. On our way back to building 155, we stopped at the McMurdo Station sign that overlooks the Ross Ice Shelf.
The rest of my day off was spent editing photos, watching the news, and writing.
After my day off, the rest of my week was fairly uneventful. On Thursday, I moved into another dorm room to room with Jake. It is definitely nice to room with someone you actually know. Especially when you’re confined together to such close quarters.
On Saturday, October 19, I woke up around 10 AM to go to the Outdoor Safety Lecture (OSL). At McMurdo, for most hikes away from the base you have to attend the OSL where you learn how the rules you are expected to follow, how to stay safe, and how to properly register for your hike. My main reason for attending the OSL was so that I could take part in the Everest Challenge. Overlooking McMurdo is Observation Hill, a 750 foot high mound which, if climbed 39 times, is roughly the equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest.
Before making it to Antarctica, I committed myself that if I got this job and actually made it down to the ice, my next goal would be to climb Mt. Everest by the time I’m 35 years old. I feel like this would be a good place to start to see if I could motivate myself to take on a physically difficult task.
The next morning I put on all my thermal layers, grabbed my parka and began my first walk towards Observation Hill. McMurdo has tons of complimentary traction snap ons for your hiking boots to help you with traction. These came quite in handy as the hill has some sections that are pretty steep and covered in snow.
The hike up isn’t extremely difficult but it’s definitely not easy either. It took me anywhere between 40-50 minutes to make it to the top and let me tell you, it was totally worth it.
The view from Observation Hill is absolutely breathtaking. From here you can get an incredible view of Mt. Erebus. Named after the ship commanded by James Clark Ross, Mt. Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on the planet and you can consistently see a small plume of smoke rising from its crater.
I sat there for a while looking at the landscape and snapping pictures. I was filled with a sense of sadness that I was up there by myself. I couldn’t help but think about Audrey and how much I missed her and how I wished she could be there with me at that moment to see this with me. I thought about the time I tried to take my own life and reflected on all the things that I had done since then and how I came so close to denying myself that. I was once again overcome by emotion as the beauty of this place and couldn’t help but cry in disbelief that I was getting to see and do this with my own two eyes.
I was eventually met by one of the Kiwis from nearby Scott Base, Jason, who also decided to brave the windy conditions to go up to the summit of Observation Hill. We talked for a bit about ourselves and what brought us here. He was one of the mountain expeditions guides for the base which was very useful considering I was a little worried about the trip back down so I was able to follow his lead for my first descent down Ob Hill.
