On the other side of the Hut Point Peninsula from McMurdo, on a small cape called Pram Point, is the main New Zealand outpost in Antarctica, Scott Base. It was formally founded in 1957 as the Eastern terminus of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, under the auspices of Sir Edmund Hillary, and "Hillary's Hut" still stands in the compound, lovingly restored and maintained by the same Antarctic Heritage Trust that looks after the historic huts of the Heroic Age.
Being so close to McMurdo, and founded around the same time, it feels a bit like entering an Alternate Dimension when you cross over the hill, where the conversational tones are more mellow, nimble Toyota 4x4s replace brute-force Fords, and the southerly aspect catches the sun best in the middle of the night.
The Kiwis, very wisely, have established kind but firm boundaries: Americans are welcome to visit on Sundays and (if I recall) Thursday evenings, when the shop and the bar are open, but the rest of the time they are politely barred, except by personal invitation. At visiting times, there are regular shuttle vans from McMurdo to Scott Base and back. I visited three times: once, on a Thursday, with the other AAWs, to the shop; once, on a Sunday afternoon, to drop off a memory card for someone who would be turning up that night, and once when I had the honour of being invited to give my Terra Nova talk. Being aware that I was in someone else's home, I didn't snap many pictures on any of these occasions, but I hope what I do have will give you some feel for it.
Pram Point has an important asset for a base: it's near enough to where the Ross Ice Shelf meets land that surface travel south is nearly always possible. Pram Point is mentioned frequently in Terra Nova accounts as the access point to the security of Ross Island, when the sea ice around Cape Armitage was unsafe or absent. Vehicles today still take this route, and drive right past Scott Base on the road between McMurdo and the airfields.
It's only a mile between McMurdo and Scott Base, so on my second visit, it being a fine day, I decided I'd rather get some fresh air and walk my memory card over and back, rather than wait for a shuttle – plus I could take the time to soak in the route I'd read so much about.
The climb out of McMurdo is drab and utilitarian. The station's outdoor storage is stacked up towards the road, so one has to pass row upon row of crates and flat-pack field huts before reaching anything more scenic. The final stretch out of town skirts the giant fuel tanks that supply the station's generators, though the three wind turbines on the other side of the road take up to 30% of that load, sometimes. The Gap – the valley between Observation Hill, to the right, and Crater Hill, to the left – is notoriously windy, so they're well-placed, although they have to be deactivated when the wind gets too strong, which happens fairly often.
Once over the crest, you get a nice view of the south side of Ross Island, across Windless Bight to Cape Mackay:
The smattering of containers in the middle distance isn't one of the airfields, but does provide a handy clue where the edge of the ice shelf meets the seasonal sea ice, which is wrinkling into grey ridges as it comes up to the land. You'd never guess, from this angle, that the near ice is a few feet thick but the ice under the containers is a few hundred, at least.
Coming around this tight bend, and looking the other way, is the 'back' of Ob Hill and – and!! – the ice where the Sea Ice Incident happened!
I'm sorry, I just find that endlessly exciting.
A nice steady roundabout decline, now, as we approach Scott Base. On the way is a metal koru, a memorial to the Air New Zealand crash on Mt Erebus in 1979, and signifier that one is now entering Kiwi territory. Because we are on an unofficial visit today, we are going to bypass the main entrance, with the Maori carving over the door, and instead scoot around the side and up a short flight of steps to the door nearest the shop.
And who should greet us in the vestibule, but ...
The man himself! (Next to a note reminding us not to stamp the snow off our boots here, but use the brush outside. I'm sure he would have supported this policy.)
Scott Base is an Alternate Dimension not just in the day-to-day realities, but because the area's history is more strongly present. McMurdo has the odd relic of its past, but history apparently starts with Operation Deep Freeze in the 1950s; Scott Base, on the other hand, wears Antarctic history on its sleeve, as well as in its name. The shop carries history books and postcards of the historic sites alongside the treats and branded station merch that one can also find at McMurdo. And, I discovered later, there are historic photos up throughout the base, including a massive reprint of the Midwinter Tree photo in the pub.
This shouldn't be at all surprising for the field HQ of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, but it did show up the disconnect I'd been feeling at McMurdo. I was in the very place where the history happened, but beyond the placenames, a photo of the Discovery in the Galley which showed the site of the future base, and one old hut, there was no acknowledgment of the original explorers. Here, though, was a familiar face in the right place, and a little room full of celebrations of the past, and I won't pretend it didn't make me a little emotional. Getting weepy over the Cape Evans postcards would not have been my best foot forward, though, so I purchased a topographical map of the area to add to my Ordinance Survey walking maps back home, and got out before I embarrassed myself.
It was lucky timing at the top of Arrival Heights that got me invited to speak at Scott Base on a non-visiting night. Some Kiwis had come to McMurdo for my big talk in the Galley there, and thought it would be good to bring me over, so when I happened to be up a hill at the same time as an antenna attendant, I got that precious personal invitation that would allow me access on a non-visiting day. It ended up being shortly after Whakaari blew up, so people were understandably distracted. For my part, speaking about the Terra Nova Expedition in front of the people who look after its earthly remains was a little intimidating. And that amount of talking was the nail in my laryngitis coffin, though it probably would have come on eventually no matter what. But the welcome was warm and the chat inclusive, and all in all it was a thoroughly lovely visit to Looking-Glass Antarctica. 12/10, would visit again.
Just like McMurdo, Scott Base is slated for a major redevelopment. I was a little surprised to hear this, as it seemed plenty modern to me already, but I am not the one making these decisions. The new one looks very shiny, and not unlike the airport hostel where I stayed while waiting to fly south. The architectural mockups don't show old photos on the wall, but I trust they will appear in due course, along with the anti-stomping advisories taped up on a printed sheet of A4. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes down. I hope I'll get to see it, someday.