Back to the Grind....

The Core Handling/Science Crew

(Me, Dr. Taylor, Spruce,Tim, Gifford, Logan, Bess, Marie, Anais, Natalie, Susanne)

Well, it's back to the grind here at Wais Divide. We started up the 24 rotation again christmas night. We've been chugging along at a pretty good clip, hitting 750 meters last night. Christmas ended up being a really nice time down here. One of the camp carpenters dressed up as Santa and we did a big gift exchange. I left most of my gifts in McMurdo, so I ended up donating one of my precious Guinness 4-packs to the cause. Needless to say, it was the first gift chosen :-)

Last night we finally had a successful flight make it to us. It had been delayed 4 times due to weather and mechanical issues. The crazy part, is that after it landed, the weather got bad in McMurdo, so the plane (and her 6 crew members) actually had to stay the night. It was weird waking up this morning and seeing a giant LC-130 Hercules parked near the galley.

LC-130 parked on the ski-way

Everyone here is a little bummed about working this Sunday (to make up for Christmas), but we are also looking forward to New Years Day. It's a little surreal to think that I'll be starting a new year in Antarctica.

I spent a lot of time Christmas day going over my New Zealand tramping guides and found quite a few very incredible sounding tracks. I am starting to get a little antsy to get hiking (and see some trees, mountains, and grass again).

Santa decided to visit us here at WAIS

....off to work....!

-john