Weather
"Mostly dreary becoming dreary today as low pressure to the southwest presses low clouds and snow into the area…Wind should calm with snow falling in earnest by noon-ish…Fog and mist lingers…
An End to the Required Training
We finished up our required training today with a McMurdo Dry Valleys/Antarctic Specially Managed Areas training and Communications training. With our training…
AM Training
McMurdo is a place where they take training seriously. We started out this morning at 7:30 am with an introduction meeting to all of the heads of the logistics departments at McMurdo.…
Setting Up the Lab
Today was all about setting up our lab in the Crary Science and Engineering Center. Our soil ecosystems team has a lab reserved for our use during the time we are here at McMurdo…
A trip to the CDC
This morning we went to the Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) to get our Extreme Cold Weather Gear (ECW). The ECW starts out in two large bags which have to be emptied and…
We left the hotel at 6:45 this morning to catch our flight to McMurdo. Checking in for a flight to Antarctica is similar to checking in for any domestic or international flight with a couple of…
Flying in an LC-130
Late last night we learned that they were going to try and fly us today. Someone must have pulled some strings to get an extra flight scheduled. We left the hotel at 5:45 this…
The day that Wasn't
We crossed the international date line sometime last night on our flight. The flight from LAX was only about 13 hours. We left late at night on the 26th but we arrived in…
LAX
This morning my wife and daughter dropped me off at the Salt Lake City Airport. I have been on other trips before but none longer than 10 days. It felt different today saying goodbye for what…
Preparing to Leave School
These last three weeks have been super busy at school. In addition to my regular teaching responsibilities, I have had to finalize term grades two weeks early, write my…
I went hiking today with my friend Jarick Poulson. We had a nice hike in Grove Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove, Utah. It felt good to get outside and get a little bit of exercise after eating too much…
In less than two months I will be leaving for Antarctica. Before I leave I want to provide a few journal entries with a little bit of background information about tardigrades. To start things off…
