So I've now left the ice but still have many things to say and write about my time there. Stories of getting slapped in the face by a seal flipper, jamming on the sax at the south pole (or close to it), life in mcmurdo, helo flights, a sad seal tragedy on the ice... BUT I'm currently embarking on an adventure in New Zealand backpacking across the south island, so I just won't have the time to put those posts out. Instead, for the time being anyway... Here are a few pictures of my last weeks on the ice. It was a strange time. Antarctica is a place of extremes, in weather, in temperature, in scenery, in emotion, in everything. I will miss my time there greatly. The mountains, the seals, the ice, the colors, the people... I will miss them all. Not every day was amazing, some were the darkest I've had in quite some time despite the never ending sun, but perhaps those days are stories for a later post, or perhaps over a beer and burger if I run into you. Either way, I'll try to keep more of a picture blog going as I travel through NZ and then up to Southeast Asia for the next two + months.
Thank you very much for reading and I hope to see you on the road. And now, some petrified penguins...
Scott's hut was really just too cool, so we went back a second time.
A few unlucky 100+ year old penguins forever stored in Scott's Hut
Old books and bits of string
Beautiful cigarette tins and boxes
Somber tally of men lost during the wait for Shackleton.
"Losses to Date"
Interesting wall decorations in Scott's hut
The sweater of A. Cherry Garrard, a member of Scott's last and fatal expedition and author of The Worst Journey in the World
Katie taking a moment of reflection at Cape Evans outside Scott's hut.
Big Razor Back Seal colony and beautiful clouds
Me enjoying a nice afternoon reading a book on a weigh sled in view of a volcano while sipping whiskey cooled by glacial ice listening to Neil Young... you know, tuesday...
Seal in a bag
Mom trying to get her pup into the water before I can get the guy into a bag to weigh him... The mom nuzzled my leg now and then trying to get me out of the way. Thankfully she didn't want to pull me into the water too...
Ferocious seal pup about to gum me to death
Pup and mom at North Base
Adult seal under water
Katie ever sporting safety gear while surveying among the icebergs.
Atop Ob Hill. Memorial cross in memory of Scott and his men.
Eric and Kirstie weighing a 200+ lb seal pup at Turtle Rock. See his nose?
The seals are really lazy creatures on land and stay in one spot for long periods of time, so much so they start to melt into the ice. Here you can tell the side of the seal that was melting water and the side exposed to the air.
Kirstie and Mike navigating a crevasse. Awesome jump Kirstie!
Emperor and Adelie Penguins side by side
Adelie Penguin at the ice edge... cute spastic little guys
Katie sneaking a look into what we called the seal nursery.
Man these guys are itchy...
One of the saddest things I saw down here. The pup is dead and has been dead for over a month. The two impressions on either side of it are of its mom. The mom stayed with the pup for weeks and weeks and weeks. This day was the first day I noticed the mom had left. She was so devoted to her pup she stayed with it and consequently melted impressions of her body into the hard blue ice. You can see how she laid with her head on her pup.
Pup under water, checking me out.
Xavi and an Adelie Penguin at the ice edge! He really loves those guys :)
A last picture of me and a group of seals on the south side of the Erebus Glacial Tongue
Seal kiss... this is how the moms and pups sort of check in with one another... it's adorable
And if there's one thing i learned while down there it's this: Wu Tang is for the Children...
