Rudolf Pulls a Helicopter

12/22/08
Another day, another daytrip. Only a short jaunt this time, we got flown down to Lake Vanda, the large lake in Wright Valley that is fed by the Onyx River. Although the surface is frozen, the edges are liquid during much of the summer, and the saline water at the bottom of the lake is almost 20°C! But we weren’t doing anything with the water. We were taking more samples around the lake to look at their exposure history and how recently they have been covered up.
For lunch we made our way to the east side of the lake where Vanda Station is located – really just a collected of three little pale green huts maintained by the Kiwis. No permanent residents, but the door was open, and so we made ourselves at home with a much-appreciated spot out of the wind.
Throughout the day, clouds up-valley threatened with a curtain of fog coming down to the valley floor and blowing snow, too. The major problem: helicopters won’t fly through clouds, and we didn’t want to be stuck in Wright Valley overnight. So we called for an early pickup and ended up at Marble Point Station for the night. Essentially a helicopter gas station, the little base has a permanent staff of three very friendly souls and many, many more people rotating through. By coincidence, one guy (Crunch) is from Woburn like Robert and the fuel-tech (Tanya) is from Atlanta like Jenny! Near base, less than a 10 minute walk away, is the terminus/ice cliff of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier in one direction, and raised beaches on the coast in the other. Skuas and algae guard the land in between.
For us, it was a great night – a warm place to sleep, a crossword puzzle to do, Yahtzee to play, delicious food cooked for us, and even a large screen to watch Crocodile Dundee on (Jenny picked the movie to go along with the book she’s reading right now). All in all, an amazing way to get stranded away from camp.

12/23/08
A sunny wake-up at Marble Point meant clear weather for us up the valley, and a bit before 10 we caught a ride home. While we were gone we ended up with another couple inches of very light powder! I know what you’re thinking – aren’t we supposed to be in the /Dry/ Valleys? Well, for one thing this is very, very dry snow. Powder like nothing you’ve ever seen. And, instead of melting, a good portion of the snow sublimates – turns from solid to gas straightaway, meaning that the ground here doesn’t often get wet. The water down in Wright Valley is mostly from a more constant supply of melt from the Glaciers flowing out of the mountains.
Around lunchtime we got a happy surprise – Santa showed up on a helicopter! Well, really his helpers did. A crowd of elf-clad McMurdo residents complete with pointy ears and red and green curly hats popped out of the helicopter and spent a bit of time with us, dropping off some fresh fruit and cookies before proceeding on to the next flight. Besides giving us a holiday visit, it is a good way to reward some great McMurdo workers by letting them see the area on a day-long helicopter tour.

Jenny at Lake Vanda, enthusiastic as always.

Allen bravely crosses the rushing water of the Onyx River as it feeds

into Lake Vanda.

Robert outside the architectural marvel that is Vanda Station.

Jenny captures a beautiful view down Wright Valley (where

the sun kept shining while the clouds crept up behind us).

Robert has a heart to heart with a (relatively new) mummified

seal we found near Vanda Station.

Marble Point hotel/gas station, known for its great hospitality.

A skua, seeming like a cross between a hawk and the fattest seagull

you’ve ever seen – what Robert calls a “magnificent bird” – defends

its territory from us. We think it was nesting.

Jenny – heroic in front of the Wilson Piedmont Glacier.

The helo rotors tend to kick up giant walls of snow when they

take off and land. This wave of snow was neat in that it didn’t

crash into us.

McMurdo’s resident elf population drops by our camp on their

biggest day of the year.