Flying to Antarctica is an adventure in itself. Here’s a brief collection of clips during my 2014-2015 flights from Christchurch, New Zealand, through McMurdo Station, and finally ending up at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide Field Camp – WAIS Divide. Both airplanes are LC-130 Hercules, operated by the New York Air National Guard 109th Airlift Wing, Operation Deep Freeze.
Just over the hill from US-run McMurdo Station is New Zealand’s Scott Base, part of the New Zealand Antarctic Programme. The base serves as the center of New Zealand’s Antarctic Operations, and is a pleasure to visit. Every Thursday night, Scott Base’s bar, “The Tatty Flag” hosts USAP participants for “American Night”. Shuttles from McMurdo run regularly, and the bar fills up. It’s always a great time, and a fantastic opportunity to meet Kiwi Antarctic scientists and support workers, as well as check out a few of the facilities.
During transit to Antarctica, I had a brief afternoon of free time in Christchurch, New Zealand. Amidst a few errands, here are three shots taken from around town:
For my final outing in New Zealand, after a brief stay on the valley floor at Mt. Cook Village, I made the short but steep trek up to the Mueller Hut.
The hike up to the hut is steep. Very steep. After an hour long stroll along the valley floor, there’s an 1800 stair staircase straight up the mountain. Then, another hour of extremely steep loose rock scrambling, and then a turn to the rock flats.
The Mueller hut is simply stunning. A bit more from the NZ DOC:
Mueller Glacier was named by Julius Haast in 1862, after Ferdinand von Mueller. Mueller was a Danish-born scientist and explorer, who come to Australia in 1848. Mueller became a great botanical collector and writer.
The present Mueller Hut is the fifth hut to be built with that name. The first hut was built in 1914 just 500 feet
above the glacier and by 1947 was deteriorating. A second hut started in 1949 lasted just four months until it was swept
away by a wet-snow avalanche. Hut debris was hauled back up from the glacier and used to build temporary quarters erected at the same spot. The fourth Mueller Hut was built not far below the present site in 1953, and lasted until it was pulled down in 2003. This latest hut was opened in July 2003 by Sir Edmund Hillary, and is situated just below Mt Ollivier—the first mountain Sir Edmund climbed.The hut can sleep 28 people on platform bunks complete with mattresses. There is a separate kitchen and living area and self-contained warden quarters. There are also solar-powered lights and gas-operated stoves (summer only). A toilet is sited a short distance away from the hut, but can be inaccessible in winter.
PDF Brochure for the Mueller Hut
A few pics of the climb up, hut, and surroundings:
The steep rock scramble up to the top
At the top, the Mueller Hut. This is the reverse angle, showing the full view of mountains surrounding the hut. Quite spectacular.
Inside the Hut – the Hut Warden’s quarters:
The wraparound patio is really incredible. I got to the hut in the morning, and spent most of the afternoon reading on the patio.
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Exploring the pile of rocks in front of the hut. That’s Mt. Cook behind me.
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Flowers
As sun set, a few of the people at the hut set up to view:
The next morning, on my way down.
Sealy Tarns.
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Me, at the hut door
The final stop in New Zealand was Mt. Cook Village, at the base of Mt. Cool. My stop here was only two days, but in those two days I got a good taste of the spectacular beauty of the region. My first of two nights was spent at the YHA Backpackers Hostel, which was extremely clean and nice. It felt like living in a mountain cabin, with spectacular views in all directions.
In addition to a nice stay at the YHA, I also went with Samantha on a walk over to the very very very nice Mt. Cook Visitors Center, as well as on a stargazing tour at the Hermitage Hotel Planetarium.
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Adventure number two in New Zealand was exploring the party and extreme sports capital of New Zealand’s South Island, Queenstown.
Waking up at Haka Lodge in Christchurch, Cinthia and I made a valiant effort to make it to our bus down south. Unfortunately we missed it by a hair, and had to try again the next day. Traveling down to Queenstown was nice enough, though.
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Nomads in Queenstown… despite being in the serene mountains, Queenstown is a party town, and I happend to check into the main party hostel, filled with british youth cut loose on their first “vacay”.
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Extreme sports is big in Queenstown, and I did a quick hike up to the top of the mountain from where the paragliders launch.
After returning from work in Antarctica, I immediately started the off-ice adventuring. Despite needing a bit of a break back in civilization, I decided to go with astrophysiscists Eric Leitch and Kyle Story on a quick 3 day backpacking trip up at Arthurs Pass, a short distance away from Christchurch.
A few pics of our tramping…
Outside the United States Antarctic Program CDC building, Kyle and Erik figure out where we’re going..
Finally, in the mountains
Finding a giant Donut. Strangely, I know where another one of these is, on top of a donut shop right outside of the Burbank Airport.
Setting off
For our night out in the field, we slept at Hamilton Hut, which is very well maintained and comfy. Map Link.
The second day, we hiked back out of the park, and stayed at another hut just near the road.
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Day three, Bouldering at Castle Hill
And of course, burgers and fries in the evening.
And finally, my last flight off the ice, aboard a C-17, from McMurdo Station, Antarctica to Christchurch, New Zealand.
After a long flight from Denver to Christchurch, I finally arrived and had a moment to rest, explore, and prepare for the next leg of the journey to Antarctica. I stayed at the Elms Hotel, accompanied by a group of about 20 other scientists and support contractors. Although we did have a lot of gear and preparations to make for our flight to Antarctica, we were given a morning and afternoon on one day to explore Christchurch. For timeline clarity, I explored Christchurch on November 11th – but am posting this as the November 10th blog post, to fill in gaps in the blog. Full Photoset
In February 2011, Christchurch was hit by a huge earthquake. The quake severely damaged much of the city, and even today, almost two years later, the clean up and reconstruction is still in progress. Christchurch is a beautiful town, and despite the continued destruction evident all over town, it has still retained its unique charm and beauty. All over town, there are spring flowers blooming, new buildings being constructed, and novel new shipping containers temporarily/rapidly deployed businesses sprouting up.
By far the most interesting aspect of Christchurch’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts were the shipping containers. All over town, in bulldozed lots, street corners, and malls, there are corrugated steel shipping containers. Shipping containers and cheap, plentiful and strong, and tons of them have been imported into the city. Cut, stacked, fitted together, and painted, these containers are forming the rapidly developed basis for new businesses in Christchurch. Sometimes standing alone, and sometimes in small groups, life springs from the containers.
In fact, in central downtown, there’s an entire mall made completely from the containers. Called the Re:Start Mall, it consists of neat rows of boxes, stacked on top of each other, containing all sorts of coffee shops, supermarkets, clothing stores, and cultural centers. The mall seems to be doing well, and on the day I visited with a group of weather balloon scientists, the place was packed with locals, eating out on cafe patios, and buying bags of licorice from the extremely well stocked grocer. (And yeah, that was actually me buying the licorice.)
I also took time to explore the Christchurch Botanical Gardens. These gardens lie just west of downtown, and are an oasis of beauty right next to the recovering street grid. Walking paths and a lazy river snake through the grounds, and dotted throughout the foliage are small squares and monuments. During my walk through, I found the World Peace Bell, and the Rose Garden.
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At the end of the day walking around town, I met up with another group of scientists for a drink and to listen to some music at a local pub built out of shipping containers, and then a bit of thai food sold out of a converted RV connected to a shipping container kitchen.
