Well what a cool evening, today 17 of us ventured out for a little hiking
and winter fun..
On our trip we were transported by “PISTEN BULLY'S” a German tracked
vehicle, these are the newest in the fleet of Antarctic snow vehicles.. They
are tracked and can seat 8 conferrable..
Starting our trip we headed out towards Scott Base, we took the road towards
Silver City, this is a place where during the winter you can take a short
vacation and spend a night or two out there, conditions are primitive but
the scenery is amazing…
Next on to Castle Rock, passing the New Zealand ski hill we start to ascend,
a few hundred feet in elevation later we arrive at the base of Castle Rock,
ground elevation here is about 1000ft AMSL. To the summit of the Rock is
another 300ft.
We start to hike from where we parked the 2 pisten bully's. The weather is
ok, temps are around +2F to -5F, but the winds are getting high as we
approach the turn before we head towards the summit.. It looking like its
not a good idea to go all the way to the top so we get only about 1/4th of
the way up the side.. we sit and chat for a few min. There really isn't much
to see at this point, the snow is blowing heavily and visibility is about
100 yards..
The walk up the hill has been fun, most of the people that came along really
didn't have the right foot wear to make this hike.. There was at points
12 -14 inches of fresh loose snow, and other places ice and rock.. I was the
only one in the group that brought trekking poles.. for those of you who
have know idea what trekking poles are they look like ski poles that
collapse and re designed for mountain climbing..Well the $40 i paid for them
was well worth it today. not once did i fall… one of the ladies in my
group who earlier in the day took care of me at the hospital when i went to
see them about my cold had a bit of a problem with loose footing.. so i
loaned her one of my poles.. they make such a big difference.. its like
walking with 4 legs instead of 2….
Well now the fun part came, on the way back down everyone pulled the parka
they were wearing under their butt' s and slid down the hill… Woo hooo
what a ride.. everyone's inner-child was screaming to get out..Then a small
snowball fight and we were on our way…
On the way down we jumped back in the pisten bully's and headed towards
town.. on the way back down we stopped at one of the “APPLES” these are
survival huts along the trail. We stayed there a few minutes and headed back
towards town.. it was a nice 3 hours trip.. i hope to do it again when the
view is better…
Enjoy
Chris
Christopher Post
________________________________
United States Antarctic Program
McMurdo Station Antarctica
Lehigh County Emergency Management
Allentown, PA
________________________________
E-Mail : n3sig@arrl.net
Amateur Radio: N3SIG / ZL5CP
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