Happy New Year's from Antarctica!
A few days late at this point, perhaps, but I was too busy to write another post this weekend. New Year's means we got another two day weekend!
I went skiing both Saturday and Sunday. Which means I was really sore at the beginning of this week. Totally worth it, though!
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| White Island (where I visited on Friday!). |
Once again, no one else was out skiing except for the small group I went with. We are literally a 30 min walk from the Ross Ice Shelf -- why isn't everyone taking advantage of this every weekend??!
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| Skiing selfie! |
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| Some pretty intense clouds over Mt. Discovery. |
On the hike back from skiing on Saturday, we were overtaken by a cute lil green PistenBully. All the buildings at Scott Base are painted green, and it seems that their PistenBullies are as well.
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| PistenBully in the distance. |
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| Passed by the PistenBully. Look how cute!! It even has a second passenger cab! |
I saw more cool vehicles during Sunday skiing, too. We got passed by a tractor towing three giant skids on skis. The skids flattened out the snow and made for some slippery skiing on the way back.
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| Tractor chugging along. |
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| Look how much stuff the tractor is towing! |
Friday night (New Year's Eve) was the town Holiday Party. It didn't seem like my kind of scene -- lots of drinking and dancing. I ate some pie and read my book in my room and went to bed early instead and had a great night!
On Saturday (after skiing) was the annual McMurdo music festival called IceStock. It went all through the evening, with several bands signed up to play. People brought their own instruments down from the US, or borrowed them from McMurdo's music room.
There was a stage set up and a set list and everything. It was really nice to hang out and listen to people play music! IceStock was held outside and the only downside is that it did get really chilly. But otherwise, a very enjoyable evening.
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| IceStock! |
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| There was a chili cook-off before IceStock. I thought this sign was so funny: "Locally sourced Ross Island ingredients 'fresh' from freezer to table!!!" |
I had a pretty amazing weekend with so much skiing and listening to IceStock. I only get two 2-day weekends while I'm down here (Christmas and New Year's) and I've fully enjoyed both of them! :)
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