Thursday, December 10, 2009

To Moore's Bay .... and back


We arose Friday to reasonably promising weather, and an 11:40 departure. The photo above shows us heading to the helicopter. The helicopter was a Bell 212, with the pilot and helo tech sitting in front, and the four passengers squeezed in back, along with our priority 1 luggage (e.g. food, extra ECW gear, etc.), where additional passengers would otherwise go. We took off, heading South, across the Ross Ice Shelf. Even though the windows were not designed with sightseeing in mind, the view was spectacular:


It was amazing to see so many different forms of snow and ice, complementing the black, stony mountains:


It was also interesting to see places where the snow/ice had clearly melted and refroze (the blue areas in the panoramic photo above). We also flew over Pegasis airfield.


Unfortunately, after we cleared Minna Bluff, we saw that Moore's Bay was covered in low clouds. We couldn't land, so had to turn around and head back to McMurdo.

Unfortunately, these photos don't do justice to the views (although you can click on them to blow them up).

The plan is to try again tomorrow, weather permitting. I'm not so optimistic; a low pressure front has been anchored around here for a while, creating the slightly unusual weather.

3 comments:

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  2. I realized that it is a very nice place. I always had thought the the poles were awful places. I hope that you have success in your research. Good luck!

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