October has been a busy busy month! I turned 24 on the 3rd. it was somewhat strange to celebrate a birthday on the ice...mostly because i spent all but a few weeks of my 23rd year at the South Pole. We have been very busy opening and heating up buildings that went cold, preparing the runway, removing flag lines, stocking up on food, and cleaning the station all so we can get ready to receive a flight full of new faces!
Yesterday morning we did get 2 planes in! These were the "transit" flights that come in from Rothera, and stop to re-fuel here before heading for McMurdo. (they bring no cargo or people with them so we don't really consider this our 1st flight) We saw one basler plane (insert Indiana Jones theme song here) with a crew of 4, and one twin otter. These planes spend the Antarctic winter working up in Greenland and then make the trek back down to the ice for the Antarctic summer. The Basler was here for maybe 30 minutes and then took off again as soon as they had re-fueled. Shortly after they took off the Twin Otter landed (with a crew of 3!), re-fueled pretty quickly and then tried to take off but did not succeed. I guess there is some sort of mechanical issue with the plane or propeller...i am not sure. That or the fuel lines are frozen because temperates are still hoovering about -70...which is on the slightly cold side for these planes. SO the twin otter and crew stayed the night and they are hoping to take off today if they can get the plane fixed, but so far no word on weather they'll leave today or not.
this is a picture of the Basler that landed here at Pole yesterday morning. This was the 1st plane I've seen (or heard) since February 16th. Its a sign that the winter is over and the crazy summer season is just about upon us.
I had mixed feelings as I saw the basler land. I'd gone out to the runway to watch them land, and I thought i would be really excited to see a plane, but really it was just loud. Mostly i spent the time joking around outside with fellow polies and not really watching the plane. The basler piolts didn't even leave the area around the plane so I didn't actually SEE a new face until the twin otter pilots came inside the station. Arriving planes do mean I will be leaving soon, but part of me didn't want the isolation of our winter to end quite yet. Everything is changing...even with only 3 new people here for a day it already seems different. These new people are strange, and have tan skin, and i don't know them. I can't even imagine how seeing 16 new people will feel if i feel confused and strange with only 3 new faces.
We were supposed to see the 1st plane of incoming Polies on Thursday, but the balser (that is now in McMurdo) can not leave until the Twin Otter is also in Mac Town because its the search and rescue plane. And the weather seems to finally be warming up, but the WIND is back in full force so the basler may not be able to take off or land with this wind. (it is still too cold for the "hercs" or the LC-130 planes to fly and land) So for the moment it looks like we'll be isolated at pole at least a few more days...I can't say I am really too disappointed in this. Two of my closest polie friends are scheduled to leave on the basler that brings in our 1st people, and I don't think i am quite ready to say goodbye and deal with the shock of new people all in the same day!
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