Off Into Wild Blue Yonder!
We woke this morning to blue skies poking through the blackout curtains and the dulcet sound of helicopters buzzing around McMurdo. As we were in the office, our day, someone from the heliport called and offered to schedule our ride to Lake Joyce— we’re leaving tonight!
Blue skies at McMurdo Station!
What followed was a flurry of last minute planning. (I know- you only thought we had already done that!) Our afternoon has been spent on The Last Shower, The Last Load of Laundry, and soon the Last Meal from the Cafeteria.
At 6:30, we’ll be down at the heliport, ready to fly! It will take about an hour to fly to Lake Joyce, and we’ll set up as much of our camp as we can so we can go to bed at a decent hour. The last sunset of the year was a few days ago, so it will be daylight all the time, which will help.
McMurdo Station at midnight.
We’ll spend the next couple of days getting our camp set up- kitchen, toilet tent, etc.. Hopefully, we’ll get the drill so we can drill a hole in the lake ice for drinking. Otherwise, we’ll need to chisel ice out with a chipper bar and/or ice axes and then melt it.
For us and all of our stuff, its going to probably be 5 helicopter trips! We’ve got everything labeled with its weight and whether its priority 1 (survival gear/basic necessities), priority 2 (really nice to haves) and priority 3(when they get to it.)
Update!
Lucy and the team have made it to their camp and in the last 48 hours have been busy setting it up. They have limited communications and we expect an audio journal from Lucy in next 24 hours! Stay tuned!
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