Now that we had taken the safety briefing that allows us to leave the sheltered station, a few of us decided to hike towards Castle Rock, a nice rock formation in the middle of the glacier behind the base. It is a 7 km loop on a well signaled path. We must stay in the path at all times, since there might be hidden crevices on the glacier where we could fall and die as other before us did. Here we are way into our exploration...
Flying my school's flag outside of the tomato shelter.
But lets start from the beginning. We reported to the Fire Station after breakfast and filled our trip plan. We were provided a couple of radios so we could call in case of an emergency. We told them we would be back 7.5 hrs later and they said that if they would start scrambling a rescue team if they do not hear from us one minute after our return time. And so we left town…
McMurdo's fire station. we had to check out before leaving town.
The excitement began when we hit the glacier. The views were amazing, with snow and ice covering most averting around us.
We leave the dark igneous rock path and hop onto the glacier.
Stepping on the glacier around 9:30 am.
I had all my Antarctic gear, bunny boots and everything
Bunny boots for the glacier.
The flags are signaling the path, as dangers lurk behind them.
Flags that mark the path. Black flags away from path signal crevices on the ice.
We arrived after a while to a ''tomato'', a shelter on the road in case weather gets really bad. The tomato offered a perfect place for flying the expedition's flag! There were two tomatoes on the whole loop. The furthest one has a line phone, a stove and necessities to prepare warm drinks, blankets, medical guides, and more. We stopped to have a snack and enjoy the coziness of the pod.
Snacking inside the tomato.
We spotted Castle Rock after a couple of hours. I kept slowing down the group by taking too many pictures.
Towards Castle Rock.
Up we went. The rock of the castle is an extrusive piece of volcanic rock. There is a rope attached to it so climbing is fairly simple.
We climbed Castle Rock to find an amazing view.
Here I am, a modern quasi-explorer.
The views were spectacular. We could say parts of the Ross Sea on one side, and the big glacier on the other one.
View of the Ross Sea from Castle Rock.
View of the large ice and snow plain.
There were some other explorers ahead of the path. Here you can see them as small dots on the lower left corner, trekking away.
Previous travelers way down in the glacier.
Time to head back; we do not want to be a minute late and have the rescue team find us taking more pictures. We go into the vastness of the glacier.
On to the glacier.
Looking back.
As we stepped down from the glacier, a couple more hours ahead, we see its boundary.
Glacier wall.
We crossed Kiwi land, better known as Scott's Base, a New Zealand research station with only 14 people year round, I believe. Scott's base is at the base of the mountains close to the airport. We could see seals a lot closer from here.
Scott's base entrance, or Kiwi Land.
Wedell Seals
A couple of seals.
And back to the station. What an amazing hike! Wonderful weather that allowed us to us the tomatoes as tourist gadgets. I did leaner the lesson, once more, that forgetting the sunscreen is not a good idea. I had to ask from one oft he team halfway through, since my face started to feel ''warm''.