Arrival.

Current conditions:  Con 3, Temp -6F (-30F with wind chill), light snow.  Population: 256

I arrived in McMurdo late last night.  The plane ride was a blast.  We went through security and were taken by bus to the C17.  The Air Force crew then sorted out our seating.   The plane bears little resemblance to a commercial jet.  All the mechanics are accessible and ladders, ropes, and other heavy equipment are tucked into the frame.  Seating consisted of 10 rows of normal, five across airline seats, and then jump seats on either side of the plane (I was in one of those).   The crew accesses the flight deck by ladder in the front.  The cargo rests on pallets in the back. Fans blow constantly, engines roar, and  earplugs are essential.  

After we were all situated, I was surprised that the airmen provided the "flight attendant" briefing, showing us the oxygen masks, seat belts, etc.  In one major difference, they demonstrated the over-the-head toxic fume hoods that were under the seats in case of fire.  The plane has no windows, just a few scarred portholes at the exits--so during the flight, people either read, slept, ate their bag lunches or played with their personal electronics or hung out gabbing in front of the cargo pallets.   There's no staring at the scenery.

With one hour to go, we reached Antartic airspace.  Then, we got a perk; the pilots invited us up two-by-to to the cockpit so we could look out over the ice.  Again, pictures don't do it justice, but as the sun was going down, the endless, mountainous expanse of white was edged all around by a shining ribbon of gold.  Unforunately, one minute was all the time I had to gape.

We then suited up in cold weather gear for landing.  The pilots did two passes of the landing for practice--it felt eerie not to be able to see the approaching airfield and understand all the changes in speed, noise and angle.  Yet, the pilots did manage to land quite smoothly without my usual mental coaching.

View from the cockpit

Stepping out of the plane into the immense expanse of white nothingness was awe-inspiring.  It felt so alien, like landing on another planet.  Remarkably, though, the cold didn't make me gasp as I had expected. The extreme weather gear provided is pretty toasty.  That's not to say it's not cold.  When I took my hand out of my glove to take two pictures, my fingers quickly took note.  I didn't leave the glove off for long.   My glasses also fogged up to the point where I could barely make out the bus 20 yards away.  Gotta figure out how to solve that problem.

The Terra-bus was crammed with people, all dressed like the Staypuft man.  If you've ever played that game where you get inside an inflatable bubble and run into other people, you'll get a sense of what it felt like. The only light on the road came from the bus headlights that shown on the little flags marking the road.   In 45 minutes, we made the 12 miles to McMurdo where we had two hours for pizza, orientation, luggage collection and bed.   

Ivan the Terra-bus