Antarctic Winter Adventures: Blog 7

Recently there have been a couple of trips put together by the Recreation Coordinator for people to get a ride out to Castle Rock in the evening to enjoy the ride, see Castle rock, and get a chance to see the sunset and enjoy the colors before the sun finally leaves us on April 24th, or next Saturday!!

Castle Rock is a large prominence of rock that juts out of the snow and ice in the middle of white. It is along the one trail we can hike on from McMurdo if we want. The hike is a loop that runs from McMurdo from the north, east toward Mt. Erebus, a volcano, and then back west again heading past Scott Base (New Zealand base) and returning to McMurdo. It’s a nice hike or cross country ski, but to see the sunset there, or along the way, it’s better to take a vehicle.

So they put together one of these trips for about 12 people total. Anyone heading on the trip got the luxury of riding in a wonderful Nodwell track vehicle. Now this Nodwell may look cool and all with it’s tractor treads and all, but let me tell you, it’s not very comfortable, whips you around like crazy on so call turns, and lets you enjoy the ride without heat in the back!

Once we all got loaded into the Nodwell we started off for the rock. Well it didn’t take more than 2 slight turns to make one guy say, “That’s enough, let me off!” Guess the wonderful jerking motion, sitting in the far back, and the smell of diesel was enough for him to call it quits! Once we offloaded our one passenger we continued our journey.

Nodwell

Since the Nodwell is equipped with tractor treads, it can move well on packed snow, ice, etc. without much trouble. Because of this maneuverability though, the speed is quit hampered. Now it’s only 3.6 miles from McMurdo to Castle Rock, but with the speed of a tortoise, it took us about 45 minutes to get there. Luckily we didn’t do the entire 9.7 mile loop or we would have been there forever!!

Well we make it out to Castle Rock and get out to hike up to the rock, enjoy the views, take some photos, look at Mt. Erebus (volcano), and to watch the sun turn to the moon across the wide open white of the peninsula. It is pretty amazing to see how vast and white it is out there, with not very much to get in your way between there and the South Pole.

Castle Rock

We spent about 45 minutes there and then loaded up and headed back to McMurdo. It was a nice trip with a chance to see more of the area and get a chance to see one of the last sunsets before April 24th. All I know is I can do without the Nodwell, so next time I think I’ll hike the route instead and maybe even do the loop and borrow some cross country skis to make it a little more fun!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the trip with a chance to see how wide open and white it is down here. Enjoy the photos and just remember it was about 55 below, with the wind, when we were out on the trip. Thank goodness for the Extreme Weather Gear they gave us!!!!