8 December 2000

Today Dr. Klein, Steve Sweet and I flew to landmarks in the near vicinity of McMurdo Station. This reconnaisance mission is designed to locate another site that is similar to McMurdo Station, thus we might attain a baseline of what is considered "natural" in soils such as those in McMurdo. For example, it would be interesting to know the trace metal amounts and composition as well as total organic and inorganic carbon (TOC and TIC) that occur naturally to compare to the soils of McMurdo.
The reconnaisance mission was broken up into to two day trips. First, a trip was scheduled to Cape Evans, Cape Royds, and New Harbor, the gateway to the Dry Valleys. The second day trip involved a visit to Cape Chocolate and Bratina Island. This write-up focuses on the first of the two helo missions.

Cape Evans is an idyllic location and a short jaunt from McMurdo Station (15 minutes helo time). The expansive Erebus Glacier Ice tongue, in all its striking blues gleaming against white, borders Cape Evans as a wall.
One of Scott's historic huts is located in this area- the hut that housed the ponies brought to this continent for Antarctic exploration.
Though the endeavor was not successful, the hut still stands with a memorial cross looming over the hill above the hut. This cross is dedicated to four of Shakleton's men who died during the course of the expedition. We climbed the small hill above the cross for a better view of the sampling area.

This area consists of low-lying and pitted topography with intermittent snow cover accumulation. Skuas have made their nests in these pitted regions forming small colonies. One bird dive bombed me as I, unaware, approached too close to its nesting site. I felt the bir-Whoosh-just above my head and I decided to back track and approach another way. Upon reaching the hill summit all the smaller islands are evident (Tent, Razorback, Inaccesibile, and Turtle Island) in the foreground. The background was filled with Mt. Discovery and the Royal Society Range-all majestic, but you'll learn more of these areas at a later date. Cape Royds was our next stop (some 17 minutes away). As I hopped out of thehelicopter, I spent a few minutes interviewing our pilot for that day-Jim Wilson. He is a seasoned Antarctic pilot, with fourteen years of Antarctic flight experience, an interesting fellow with a lot of "close-call" stories about this region. In the background of Jim's interview I heard the penguin colony, loud and beckoning me closer. As I set off to find Andrew and Steve above the high hilltops, I came across Adelie penguin tracks in the snow (both the bellyslide and the waddle-walk). I followed them down to the colony and stood on its protected borders watching the rookery antics. They are such funny birds to watch on land-some chase each other and others sleep standing up. I rejoined the guys at the base of Shackleton's Hut. We stood outside its exterior an examined from a distance this historical landmark. Two scientists were studying mold and mildew damage to the structure and invited us inside for a closer inspection of this historical landmark).

Outside we were asked to scrape away snow from our bunny-boots using a small 3 brush "fence" that you placed the boot into to remove remnant dirt and snow. Inside the hut were the remains of dry goods, a small sleeping area near a little black cast iron stove with old, gray wool blankets draped to maintain a higher degree of heat where the adventures slept, and two old photographs of somebody's loved ones hanging on the south facing wall. It was dark inside and light faintly filtered from the windows casting long shadows-the old spirit of Antarctic heroism past, I suspect. After this jaunt, we returned to the helicopter with the belief that Cape Royds was deleted from the Sampling plan. It is too different from McMurdo to be of use in our study.

Finally, a forty-minute helicopter ride along the ice edge-an area full of burgeoning marine life such as the Minke whales we saw breaching above the dark blue, Antarctic waters. Pack ice and icebergs drifted aimlessly with the currents. As we approached our destination, a thick glacier was pushing moraines out onto the ice. We landed in New Harbor, Dry Valleys at 11:30 pm. Can I say I was in awe? Awestruck is how I describe my feeling as I landed under the visage of large mountains and glaciers in the distance.

The valley was what I consider dry, hence the name, and in all of McMurdo's recent snowfalls recent precipitation, great amounts of snowfall were not evident. Glacial till and debris were scattered along the landscape. Large ventifacts, or rocks weathered into smooth surfaces by strong winds were found throughout the landscape. Peach and pink granites were also prevalent. This coastal area was too different from McMurdo to sample. However, its beauty held us captured for the short hour we spent there. The first time any of us could claim that we had stepped foot onto the continent. As the helicopter took off and we rose above the glaciated valley the color was astonishing. the sunlight cast a peach to pink to rose hue throughout the landscape. It is comparable to the painted desert as found in Arizona. D.Gielstra

Cape Evans	Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds
Shackleton's Hut at Cape Royds	Steve Sweet in front of Shackleton's Hut
Dianna Gielstra (Alsup) and Jim Wilson
Dianna Gielstra (Alsup) New Harbor, Dry Valleys