Last Day in McMurdo

I have made it successfully back to Christchurch and I am currently in Sydney en route to Colorado. I will be arriving in Colorado Friday afternoon. I was one of 37 passengers that made it northbound on an LC-130 (ski-equipped herc) Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, there was not much more on the herc than the passengers and bags so it wasn't nearly as cramped as I anticipated. The skis result in more air resistance and the LC-130 is not as fast as the C-17 that I took to go south. The result is that it was about a 7 1/2 hour flight as opposed to 5 1/2 hours on the C-17, and that was with a strong tailwind. I should add that the weather went bad at WAIS not long after our med evac flight left. It is not an exaggeration to conclude if it was not for the med evac flight, I would still be at WAIS.

My last day in McMurdo was a flurry of activities. The day started at 7:15 AM with a phone call asking me if I could get all of my gear together in 20 minutes so I could fly out that day on the med evac flight taking Jim to Christchurch. It took me a split second to answer with a "no". Much of the day was spent going around town and saying good-bye to, as well as thanking, people who were instrumental during the eight weeks of the field season. I also spent some time returning some of our gear, unpacking field equipment from WAIS, and organizing the lab. There are two additional co-workers that will be arriving in two weeks to continue the AWS field season. Lastly, it was unpacking my clothes, doing a little laundry, and then packing my gear to go back to Colorado. It was a very busy day and I was up late again making sure that everything was done. I also tried to slow down at the end to absorb some of my last few hours in McMurdo. Before going to bed, I took a picture of the sun at the same time as the last sunset that was seen on my second night in McMurdo. It has been amazing to see how much things have changed during my eight weeks in town.

A picture of the sun at 12:30 AM at approximately the lowest point in the sky on my last night in McMurdo, December 16th. 

This is approximately the same view as the above picture but on my second day in McMurdo, which was the night of the last sunset. The key is to notice the difference in the angle of the sun between arriving and leaving McMurdo.

I am flying "first available" back to Colorado, which means I was booked on the earliest flight back to Colorado leaving me only 12 hours in Christchurch.  One of the things that is always immediately noticeable are the colors, smells, and sounds that your experience in Christchurch after having been removed from so much while in Antarctica. I went for a long walk around town and I was able to spend some time in the Christchurch Botanical Gardens, which is a favorite thing for me to do after getting off of the ice. Then by mid-evening I saw a sunset for the first time in nearly two months. From this point forward I have two more flights to get back to Colorado. After over a dozen Twin Otter flights and five military cargo flights, the comfy airline seats are quite a luxury.

A stop at the Rose Garden at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens on my one night in Christchurch prior to returning to Colorado. I saw my first sunset in nearly two month about a half hour later.