29 January, 2000

The weather here in Mac town is fantastic and we have a little time off to go play. I went for a little hike to a place called Castle Rock. It is an old volcanic neck that sticks out above the glacier. The walk is all on the ice, but the trail is very well established and well packed. I ended up just wearing tennis shoes. To get to the actual summit of the rock, there is a little bit of a scramble up the volcanic rock. Taking in the view over the ice cap was a great way to finish my trip. From the top, I could see all of the places I had been, and some that I would still like to visit. On the way down, we passed the Kiwi ski hill. They have a funky old rope tow that is powered by an old tuck. I just happened to run into a guy that I had met out at Cape Bird, and he had a pair of boots that fit and some old 180 cm K2 skis. In no time, I was carving wide turns on the nice smooth slope. Though there was only about 200 feet of vertical, it was quite a novelty ! Now Ive skied in antarctica....Pretty

neat.