Hello Everyone
Last evening, I had the chance to go to the Mt. Erebus Ice Tongue Caves, and to Scott's Hut at Cape Evans, her eon Ross Island. The ice caves on the Erebus Ice Tongue are most impressive. Much like the caves you think of back in the states, these are narrow opening s and passage ways in a glacier - all ice and snow, no rocks at all. Much of the ice is blue, so inside everything has a blue hue to it, and the light filters in from cracks in the walls and ceiling. In fact, the ceiling is very frosty, and has light leaking in, giving everything a lot of depth. There's even ice-styled stalactites! The passage ways are extremely narrow. Some you have to go horizontal through. Other passages are less than 15 inches wide cracks in the ice.
Next, we traveled to Scott's Hut on Cape Evans. This is the hut that was used as a base for further explorations to the South Pole, back in 1910s. Inside, the contents of the hut are exactly as they were 80 or more years ago. Food is still packaged there - most of it in good condition! There's lots of familiar brand names too like Heinz Ketchup! There's sleeping quarters, a lab and the famed table they all would have meals together - and had a photo taken of themselves often seen in books on Antarctica and Exploration. There's still a pallet of whale and seal blubber that was used for heating the hut (All frozen solid - but is does have a bit of a smell to it). They even had attached to the hut a stable for horses! This is truly a walk back in time: visiting this hut. The name Evans, from the Cape Evans name to the location, is from one of the members of Scott's team. The party that took to discover the South Pole, did make it to the Pole, only a few weeks after Amundsen's party did first (Scott was head of the British Team and Amundsen was head of the Norwegian Team). However Scott's party never made it back - as they died about 11 or so miles form safety. Antarctica can be a harsh place.
We traveled to these places on a huge truck called a Delta. The tires on the Deltas are nearly as tall as me! (over 5 feet!) The trip is slow going, especially with all of the newly drifted snow from our previous storm. It was a 6 hour trip - total. I got in after midnight our time here.
Weather has been improving here - now that the last storm has died off. I suspect we only go about 3 to 4 inches of snow in the 36 hour storm, but it sure can drift all over the place to make it seem like more. I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!
Take care,
Matthew