Travel to Antarctica

From Galveston, TX, we travel via Los Angeles and Auckland to Christchurch, in New Zealand. In "CHCH" (Christchurch in polar slang, pronounced like cheeech), we receive our ECW gear (Extreme Cold Weather gear) before flying on military aircraft to McMurdo Station on Ross Island.

Click on the images to enlarge.

The International Antarctic Centre at Christchurch The International Antarctic Centre at the Christchurch International Airport. This is where we receive our issue of ECW gear. The Centre is a staging location for Antarctic programs of New Zealand, Italy and the US.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A C 141 Starlifter Jet Transport An Air Force C-141 Starlifter on the tarmac at Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand. This aircraft will carry us and cargo to McMurdo Station. Wheeled jet aircraft can land at the "Ice Runway", planed into the frozen Sound in front of McMurdo Station during the early austral summer, from early October through mid November.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Hercules LC 130 ski equipped turboprop aircraft For our return flights later in the season, as well as for flights to Antarctic field locations and South Pole Station, these ski-equipped Hercules LC-130 turboprop aircraft are used. These LC 130 are owned by the National Science Foundation and operated by the Air National Guard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A ski equipped Hercules LC 130 turboprop plane A closeup view of an LC 130 Hercules with the retractable ski and wheeled landing gear configurations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passengers in full ECW gear waiting to board the starlifter jet at Christchurch airport

Piling into the Starlifter at CHCH airport. We have to wear all our ECW gear.

 

 

View inside the main fuselage of a C 141 Want to travel to Antarctica? Be prepared to spend five hours (C-141) or nine hours (LC-130) in extremely cramped and noisy conditions. If the weather turns bad before landing, you may have to fly all the way back to CHCH (another four hours) and try again the next day, or the next, or the next....

Don is sitting in front of one of the few windows.

 

 

 

 

 

View out the porthole of the aircraft, onto the frozen Southern Ocean About two to three hours into the flight, the scenery changes dramatically.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View out the porthole of the aircraft, onto the frozen Southern Ocean The view onto the frozen Southern Ocean is spectacular. What you see below is annual pack ice, formed during the seasonal freezing of ocean water, and broken up into more or less large chunks of floating ice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, Ross Island can be seen. Ross Island is located at the Northern end of the Ross Ice Shelf, in the Ross Sea region. The Island is dominated by Mt. Erebus, an active volcano of about 4000m in elevation (the tallest peak in the image). To the right, Mt. Terror is visible, a dormant volcano. These two, together with another dormant volcano, Mt. Terra Nova, were named after the ships of James Cook. The smooth ice in the lower portion of the image is the annual sea ice. To the left of Turk's Head, a small glacier is flowing off the island into McMurdo Sound.

Ross Island is dominated by the 4000m tall active volcano Mt. Erebus.

 

The McMurdo Ice Runway, built onto the annual sea ice in McMurdo Sound

The McMurdo Ice Runway, built onto the annual sea ice in McMurdo Sound. It is located about 2 miles South of McMurdo Station.

 

 

A C 141 aircraft being unloaded on the ice runway near McMurdo station The C-141 Starlifter on the ice runway near McMurdo Station. LC-130 and Twin Otter aircraft remain at McMurdo, while the C-141s are unloaded and reloaded for an immediate return to CHCH.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passengers in full ECW gear disembarking from the C-141 on the sea ice runway near McMurdo Station, Antarctica

It is markedly colder here than in Christchurch!

 

Behind C 141 starlifter aircraft being unloaded on the McMurdo ice runway lies White Island In this view of the C-141 Starlifter, you can see White Island in the distance. White Island was the location of our 1981 winter-over field camp, but that is another story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mount Erebus, a 4000 meter tall active volcano on Ross Island can be seen in the distance behind the starlifter aircraft being unloaded on the ice runway From this other perspective, Mt. Erebus, a 4000m tall active volcano on Ross Island can be seen behind the starlifter. McMurdo Station (U.S.) and Scott Base (New Zealand), are located at the tip of Hut Point Peninsula, visible near the right edge of the image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People dressed in cold weather clothing inside the Terra Bus transport vehicle. Still bundled up in our ECW gear, we pile into the TerraBus for the 30 minute ride to McMurdo Station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEXT: McMurdo Station

Back to Antarctica 2001

Check out some cool old pictures from a 1981 winter field camp in the Antarctic at: The Great White South

Check out other pictures of Antarctic Wildlife.

Climb inside a giant antarctic crevasse: Into the Abyss

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