You saw my midnight hike up Arrival Heights some time ago. What I failed to disclose in that entry is that I didn't go all the way up to the bit specifically known as Arrival Heights, in part because it was midnight but also because a great deal of it is within an ASPA (Antarctic Specially Protected Area). The historic huts and Cape Crozier are also ASPAs. I had applied for and received the permit to visit them with authorised personnel, but my coordinator had suggested I put Arrival Heights on the list as well, so I had permission to go there, too. The authorised personnel in this case was in the office right next to mine, but it wasn't until fairly late in my visit that our schedules and the weather aligned for me to go up there with her. However, it turned out to be a spectacular day, and fortuitous timing as it turned out – but I will get to that later.
Shelley, my native guide, is Keeper of the Antennae, and Arrival Heights is all antennae – that's why it's Specially Protected; with guy wires and exposed wiring everywhere people could get into all sorts of trouble by accident, plus one isn't supposed to get near the sensitive equipment with certain types of insensitive equipment, lest one interfere with the results. Our first stop of the day was actually in the opposite direction: Between McMurdo Station and Scott Base is an array of antennae rigged to detect meteors entering Earth's atmosphere. It's a project of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the extra fun thing is that you can follow the data coming in live from the comfort of your own home: https://ccar.colorado.edu/meteors/meteors
Shelley, Keeper of the Antennae, was in charge of this site too, and she had received a notification shortly before heading out which demanded she solve a problem in person, so that is where we went first.
The computers that process the information from the antenna array live in this little hut. That's Observation Hill in the background – we're on the other side from McMurdo here – with the Scott Base road marked by the orange bollard at upper right.
Here's Shelley about to load the UCB website to make sure everything's running OK:
(It amused me to see such a run-of-the-mill desktop setup in such an exotic locale)
And here’s the processing unit:
The reason she'd been called out was not anything exciting like an emergency antenna repair or technology problem, but rather that the hut was getting too hot. Like any shed in a sunny garden, on a clear calm day it collects heat, and the computers don't like that. The research budget did not extend to installing an automatic climate control system, but did stretch to pinging Shelley to come over and wedge a roof hatch open with a block of wood.
Job done! (I'm telling you, the Trucker's Hitch is the knot to know.)
Temperature moderated, we retraced our steps to McMurdo and then took the access road up to Arrival Heights, where Shelley was due to do her weekly inspection of the antenna in Second Crater.
As I said, there are a lot of antennae up in the ASPA, and both the US Antarctic Program and Antarctica New Zealand use the site for their research. So, naturally, they each have a hut up there. Here is the Kiwi one, in their signature green:
The US hut was on the other side of the car park, with its signature Ford F-150:
The two countries' choice of vehicle was amusingly symbolic of their respective cultures but is, perhaps, a post for another day. We've got antennae to tend, here!
Actually, the nearest one is a weather station, but you get the idea.
First, another nip into the hut to check everything was OK.
This hut had quite a few more computers than the last:
Plus a workbench with all sorts of doodads for repair and whatnot.
And, if you were waylaid by a blizzard (being up high, one is more exposed, and the weather could often differ substantially from what was happening at base), there was a comfortable place to have a little nap.
The reason I had been encouraged to go up to the Arrival Heights ASPA was because it afforded excellent views of the whole McMurdo Sound. It was also a site of historic interest as the Terra Nova men returning from the Depot Journey would come up here from Hut Point to check whether the sea ice had frozen between them and home base at Cape Evans. There is a marginally better view from Castle Rock, which they visited occasionally, but Arrival Heights was much closer. It's still a good hike from Hut Point, though, so accounts that make it sound like a short stroll are to be taken with a grain of salt.
Second Crater (above) is a hill on top of the heights which had, once upon a time, been a volcanic cone. That is long past, though, and now it serves mainly to provide a sheltered alcove for a very sensitive radio antenna. While Shelley did whatever antenna tending needed to be done, I climbed to the top of Second Crater and took photos.
First, the all-important view to Cape Evans. From this altitude one gets a better view down to the bays, to see just how much ice had formed – and one can just see over Glacier Tongue, to tell whether the ice is in on the other side, which certainly can't be done from Hut Point.
In 1911, the end of Glacier Tongue had broken off and floated away, so it would have been an even clearer view.
McMurdo Station's situation at the base of the Hut Point Peninsula means that massive Mt Erebus, which dominates the landscape, is blocked from view by the hills close to base. Up here, one got a proper sense of how the geography all fitted together.
Looking up the spine of the peninsula: That's one of the peaks of Second Crater in the foreground, Castle Rock being all castle-y to the right, and of course our good friend Erebus looming in the distance.
In the other direction, we were even higher than Observation Hill, so you can get a good sense of the whole south end of McMurdo Sound. From left to right: Crater Hill (foreground), White Island (background), The Gap and Observation Hill (FG), Minna Bluff (very faint BG above Ob Hill) and Black Island (BG). You can see how icy the snow is up here, which encouraged some care in moving about.
The different shades of volcanic rock on the Hut Point Peninsula had surprised me, and something about the light or the angle up here made them show up better on film, so here is a closer shot where you can see a bit better. Just off the shoulder of Observation Hill there is some faint scarring in the ice …
… That is Phoenix Airfield, the landing strip for the big planes, and while Shelley and I were up there, a C-17 came in.
While Shelley was occupied in the hut and I was watching the big plane, someone turned up at the Kiwi hut in that Toyota you saw above. She turned out to be Shelley's ANZ counterpart, and asked if I might lend a hand bringing a canister of liquid nitrogen into the hut. Never in my wildest dreams had I anticipated helping with liquid nitrogen, so of course I said yes. In the course of the enterprise, she ascertained that I was the visiting artist who had worked at Disney, and she commented on how cool that was; I replied that I never got to haul liquid nitrogen around at Disney! She invited me to come give a talk at Scott Base, which felt like getting the Golden Ticket – aside from the limited 'open hours' when Americans are allowed to visit, Scott Base is invitation-only, and now I had an invitation!
Before long, Shelley was ready to go, so we trundled back down the hill to base. I had a camera full of photos to sort, and another presentation to put together ...