Journey South

Remember kids: deep snow and phones don’t mix

It has been a long week, but I have made it to South Pole Station. Yay! And I finally was able to get on the internet for more than a few minutes. Double yay!

Anyways, my last day in the US, Feb. 4^th, was mostly pretty good. I tried to get up into the mountains to ski, but the parking lots filled and they were not letting anyone else in. Not to be discouraged, I headed over to Golden Gate Canyon State Park and found a trail that some other folks had snow-shoed in. I just had my Neos, so there were times when I sunk down to my thighs. But still fun, and very pretty. Unfourtunately, I proceeded to loose my phone in that deep snow, and even digging for about a half hour in the area I thought I dropped it didn’t do much other that give me very wet gloves. Actually, my entire trip to the pole was me loosing things in random places. A water bottle, a hat, my luggage (I did get that back, though).
I made it to the Denver airport, then to LAX, which I don’t think I like much and not just because they have no free wifi. Then a 13hr flight to Auckland, NZ. It was long and not particularly comfortable, but I finished Journey to the Center of the Earth, watched some movies, and didn’t sleep a whole lot. Then through customs in Auckland. I got my year-long visa, even though Raytheon did not get me my letter requesting the extended visa before I flew. I did have a bunch of stuff from Raytheon with my name on it, so the guy at the customs desks was nice. Otherwise, I would have been stuck with a 3-month visa, which might have made getting home in 9 months more exciting, but I think I’m okay with less exciting in this instance.

After Auckland, I headed to Christchurch, which was about a 3hr flight. Then I met up with the Raytheon folk. There were actually about 20 of us heading out to the Ice. Most of them were stopping at McMurdo for the winter, or boarding one of the science vessels, but there were five of us going to the Pole. Then we were off to our hotels. I stayed in one that was fairly close to the orange zone in Christchurch. Several months ago, Christchurch had a fairly big earthquake and they are still recovering from it, particularly since the downtown area was the hardest hit, and much of it is still cordoned off.

The next day, Tuesday Feb. 7^th for those keeping track, we got issued our extreme cold weather gear (ECW).  Mine consisted of: 

-       1 pair of bunny boots (white, not so awesome)

-       1 pair of FDX boots (blue, awesome)

-       1 huge USAP parka (red)

-       1 South Pole Station parka (green and black)

-       1 Carhartt jacket

-       1 pair of Carhartt bibs (which I have been wearing pretty constantly since getting here)

-       1 pair of insulated wind bibs

-       2 fleece jackets

-       1 pair of fleece pants

-       3 pair of heavy long underwear, top and bottom (I have a hard time telling these apart from my fleece stuff)

-       6 pairs of heavy wool socks

-       2 fleece balaclavas

-       2 fleece neck gaters

-       2 fleece hats

-       3 pair of leather work gloves

-       1 pair of choppers

-       1 pair of over-mitts (that look like bear paws)

-       2 pair of ski goggles

-   3 orange bags for carrying everything

Most folks don’t bring everything, but first-timers are encouraged to, because it takes time for people to figure out what works best for them, so I have three bags stuffed with cold weather gear.  Sue, one of the other folk stationed at South Pole, was a big help at making sure I had the gear I needed and that fit right.