Ship Shape

Wednesday morning, I stepped out of my dormitory to go to the post office.  A front had blown through the day before and it was a cold, cold, misty morning.  I glanced over my shoulder and guess what I saw?

What do you see in the picture, kids?

A very special ship!  This kind of ship is called an Icebreaker!

What do you think an ice breaker ship does?  Do you see any clues in the picture?

This ship sailed all the way down from a country far, far north of here - on the very northern part of the world!  The country this ship came from is called Russia.  This ship has a name, too!  It's the Vladmir Ignatyuk. 

He's breaking up the ice in McMurdo Sound into lots of little pieces!  How do you think he does that?

He is the farthest-south boat in the entire world!  Why do you think he's breaking up the ice for us?

Can you see where the ice breaker went through?

The mountains are very pretty, aren't they?

The blocks of ice floating in the water are called icebergs.  Do you think icebergs float mostly on top of the water?  Or underneath?

THIS is why the icebreaker came to help us!  He made a special passage through the thick ice so this big, BIG ship can come in!  What kind of ship is this one called?  What do you think he may be carrying?

It is a very big ship, isn't it?  But his anchors aren't in the water!  How do you think he keeps from floating away?

That's right!  Very big ROPES!!  These ropes are place around very strong posts, called "bollards".

This ship is so big, it carries it's own smaller boats with it!

What do you think these smaller boats are for?

Can you find the ice breaker in this picture?

Castle Rock (Again)

A short follow-up to the last one...

At the very base of the Castle Rock, above Scott Base, the Kiwis have a ski hill where they get free tows up the side with snowmobiles. For us, the Kiwi Ski Hill is by invitation-only. Unless you're one of my co-workers and you crash it.

With cafeteria trays...

Castle Rock

Castle Rock has been in the distance in a number of my posts, and I'd been anxious to get out and see it first hand.  New Year's Day, we had wonderful weather, so a couple of friends and I struck out on the trail and left McMurdo behind for the day...

The trail head.

Starting the long, slow, climb.  Uphill.  Both ways.  In the snow...

The trail, the same used by the Heroic Explorers, follows the spine of a glacier.  Today, our FSTP teams flag the safe passage, but off  the trail, on either side, lies several hidden crevasse fields.  In 1986, two hikers were killed taking a shortcut when they fell through a snow bridge and into a crevasse 75' below. 

An "apple".  An emergency shelter in the event of sudden storm conditions.

"Bright, bright, sun shiney day..."

Castle Rock.  Geologists believe this is the core of a volcano that formed under the glacier, when the glacier was much thicker.

Erebus, still active, in the background.

The face of Castle Rock stands about 300' high.

Chris and Jeramie starting the climb.

A climbing rope for the dicey portions of the climb.  Basically, the upper 2/3 of the climb.  Just up ahead, the rope slipped off of a snag and I found myself with about an extra 7' of slack I wasn't anticipating.  After swinging like a tetherball for a bit, I landed back on the ledge - about 7' over from where I started!  (Just don't tell Summer!!)

Chris, nearing the top.

Looking back.

At the summit, with the Royal Society across the thawing McMurdo Sound.

Don't tell Summer about this, either!!

Jeramie.

Looking east.  Mt. Erebus, and Erebus Glacier, on the left.  Mt. Terror and its glacier on the right.

Looking north.  From left to right:  Tent Island, Inaccessible Island, Razorback Island, and (the tiny one on the far right) Little Razorback Island.  The point of land directly behind Little Razorback is Cape Evans, where Scott built his hut during his second, Terra Nova, expedition in his quest for the Pole in 1909.  Beyond is the open water of the Ross Sea, about 12 miles north of us.

Looking west again, with Mt. Discovery (8796') on the far left, the southern extremity of the Royal Society range.

Mt. Lister at center.  Hobbs Glacier to the right, and Blue Glacier on the far right edge.

This point of Castle Rock was covered in black rock - giving it a burnt appearance.

The way back down.

Waaaaaayyy down...!!

Inbedded in the rock were these black lava/rock/mineral things.  I suppose if I went to the Crary Science Lab, some geologist would be happy to give me some explanation of them; I just thought they looked pretty neat.

NOT the way down.  After making a wrong turn and realizing there was no rope, we had to scramble back up.  Right after I took this shot, Jeramie dropped his water bottle.  It's interesting to note:  Nalgene will survive a 250' fall onto volcanic rock!  (The lid, not so much...)

Back on track.

A nice little alcove just off the route made for nice photo ops.

Old climbing rope.  There's a second piece higher up.  See it?

Heading back towards town, Ob Hill comes into view.

Ob Hill and I have history together...

Parting shot.