Arrival in McMurdo...

I wasn't in McMurdo long enough to take many pictures. We arrived, went through an endless orientation, found our dorm rooms, bag-dragged and got weighed-in again in preparation for a flight the next day, and pretty much collapsed for the evening. The pictures below show McMurdo looking in opposite directions. Of course there's a lot more there than shown in these shots, but it gives you the basic idea: old and new buildings, a grungy kind of industrial look to it -- especially at this time of the year when all the snow is melting off. Despite the ugly appearance the town can actually be a lot of fun, and the surrounding territory is very beautiful.

The light tan building center-right is 155, the hub of many station functions including the galley. The boxes with the colored lids are recycling bins (yes, they do have that many categories of waste). The taller brown buildings in the center-left are dorms, and the ball on the hill is the NASA ground station.

Observation "Ob" hill in the distance, Crary Lab on the right. Utilidors of conduit and bondstrand run everywhere.

Not all was good. I had a fitful few hours of sleep in a crowded bunk room for Mactown transients, punctuated by people arriving and leaving at all hours of the night. Naturally, it had poor ventilation, no natural light, was very noisy, and anytime someone came in they flipped on all the lights. If you're going to be in McMurdo for an extended time they'll usually assign you better digs with just one roommate; since we were scheduled to fly out the next day they didn't bother and just crammed a lot of us together in the worst rooms. The accommodations were so miserable I wouldn't have stayed there another night.

Fortunately I didn't have to. Early the next morning we jammed on board another shuttle bus to the airfield.

The flights to the pole are on "Herc" LC-130s (the L designation means they have skis). When the flight crew indicated that the plane was ready for boarding everybody exploded out of the tightly-packed shuttle and filed on board the aircraft. That vertical red stripe on the side of the plane, by the way, is even with the props. If, for some reason, a propeller blade should come loose from the engine axle while in flight, that stripe is where the hurtling prop would slice through the plane. The stripe is also repeated inside the hull of the aircraft. Probably not a good place to sit.

The loadmaster asked if I wanted a picture of myself boarding. Well sure! The sack lunches provided by the McMurdo kitchen have really improved over the years -- that one I'm carrying (the brown bag, not the orange duffle, silly) had a excellent chicken breast sandwich with crispy lettuce and other goodies.

A lot of the flight is over flat, white ice. Not much to see. But about halfway through the flight path takes you over the Trans-Antarctic Mountains. This is way cool.

A view from the cockpit. For the LC-130s, the crews are part of the New York Air National Guard. Once again the flight crew was very easy-going about letting people come up to the cockpit for a look-see -- that is, until one of the flight deck windows cracked (probably because of the cold, or simply the age of the plane). The plane did not lose pressure, but there was about 10 minutes of urgent debate about whether they should turn around or continue on. Eventually they decided it was okay to continue (*whew*).

The Beardmore Glacier -- part of the path that Scott's and Shackelton's expeditions used to get to the polar plateau. I believe it's 15-20 miles wide at this point.

On arrival at the Pole they don't waste time. The plane comes straight in, there's a thump and rumble as it skids down the snow runway, and the moment it stops they open the rear hatch to allow the cargo to be unloaded. It's shockingly bright, but the cold air doesn't really hit you until you exit the aircraft.

No standing and gawking here. The engines are roaring, the props are turning, heavy equipment is running everywhere, and it's dangerous if your attention lapses. It's also cold as hell. We walk off the airfield to see what awaits us...

Continue on to Part 4: South Pole Station