6 January, 2003

Goodbye to McMurdo

If all goes well tomorrow we will leave McMurdo for Bull Pass in the Dry Valleys. Bruce Marsh, the leader of our team, arrived Saturday. His flight from Christchurch, New Zealand had been delayed because of poor weather. We spent the better part of yesterday going over where we will be working and what we will try to accomplish. We intend to have a number of helicopter flights to take us to the mountains around the base camp. Each evening we will return to Bull Pass. The first day should involve just setting up the camp and getting used to the higher altitude. The first few days will involve studying the geology in the local Bull Pass region.

I hope to be able to update the journal from the field by saving entries to disks and have them brought back to McMurdo by the helicopter pilots. In McMurdo, the journals will be posted to the web. I will not be able to check them online however until we return at the end of January. There is no email or internet in Bull Pass so you will not be able to contact us in the field. Thank you to everyone who has been keeping up so far and sending questions and comments.