First hike...

Backyard looking south

Today we had our first day off in two weeks. It's not normal to go that long without a break, but due to the compressed turnover between summer and winter crews it was necessary.

Backyard view from glacier

For my first day off I decided to go check out the glacier behind the station. To get to the glacier you have to cross an an area called the "backyard". It's the moraine between the station and the glacier and is *maybe* a 1/2 mile between the two. 

Winter is coming-sun angle at 11:30am
 
It is really rough, and you have to pick your route carefully. There is a lot of stuff for science in the backyard-antennas for various experiments, seismometers, magnetometers, a GPS station for tectonics from UNAVCO in Boulder, etc. But lots of antennas for a ham radio geek like me ;-)... In addition, there is a rec hut and tent platforms that  you can check out to get away for a night.

Icebergs

Once you get across the backyard, you get to the edge of the glacier. The bottom is a little steep, but not a real problem to climb. There is no snow on it, so skiing is out for now. Traction is definitely needed though, and there are boxes of microspikes all over that you can grab. As you climb the glacier it becomes less steep and I imagine that it will take some poling to get going when skiing. When climbing up the glacier you can hang a right (south) about mid-way up and swing around to Bonaparte Point which is across Hero Inlet from Palmer. It's off limits for another week because of, I think, giant petrel nesting. I'll walk over there when it's allowed.

First step on an Antarctic glacier

At the top of the glacier, you can go down the south side to a place called Point 8, which is right on the water. This seems like it might be the best place to ski when there's snow, but if you don't stop in time, you're going in the drink.

Point 8 and flag lines

In some of the pictures you can see flag lines that are set by the glacier search and rescue group. They survey for crevasses and you aren't allowed to go outside of the flag lines. The views from the top are stunning. You can look out across the station to all the adjacent islands and all the different icebergs that are constantly drifting in and out of the area. Truth? I'd never seen an iceberg in real life before now. They're beautiful!

In the picture below, you can see two little islands. The larger one in the rear is called Amsler Island, and the small on in front with the snow and ice on top is called Dietrich Island. I think I have them right. They're named after Palmer scientists that have been doing work down here for many many years. Up until recently, they were covered by the glacier and they didn't know they existed. The recession of the glacier exposed them. Chuck and Maggie Amsler are down here right now, and they're super nice people.
Amsler and Dietrich Islands

After my hike around the glacier, I headed back down to the station for lunch. From the top, I was able to find a much better route through the backyard that wasn't nearly as treacherous as the noob route I'd used on the way up.

At the top of the glacier

So that was my first hike in Antarctica. Way cool!

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