13 December, 2003

McMurdo (Waiting) Revisited

One look at the photos below should suffice for describing today. Much like the Condition ONE storm that kept us in McMurdo two weeks ago, a blustery day kept us off the volcano and huddled in Lower Erebus Hut. While the weather did not reach Condition ONE as defined by the NSF (see 12/02/03 Condition ONE), blowing snow and low visibility made Skidooing unsafe. Julie and Shauna, who had gone up to the rim to sample gas (see 12/08/03 The Pump Station) in the relative calm of the morning, found it difficult to see their own tracks that would lead them back to the hut. The rest of the team spent the day indoors, catching up on e-mail, reading, studying for finals, playing cards or writing journals. With luck, this will blow itself out by tomorrow and we’ll be back to work.

1. Figure 1 – View of our tent sites today from the corner of the hut. Does this look familiar to McMurdo? Temperatures of –25 C and wind of 20 knots kept us indoors today.

2. Figure 2 – View of our tent sites on a clear day from the corner of the hut.