Stuck in McMurdo

Well, the weather hasn't gotten any better! I woke up this morning to find it snowing outside. My trip to Bonney to make my measurements was canceled. I'll be trying again tomorrow. It's my last chance to get in the field, because I'm scheduled to leave Antarctica early Wednesday morning.

In addition to me being stuck here, we have several group members in Christchurch waiting to come down. Ross, the final member of our team, got stuck sleeping on the floor in LAX airport due to his delayed flights. He's reportedly made it to Christchurch, and is now waiting to come down on the C-17. So have several other scientists that we work with from Colorado State University. They are enjoying the warm New Zealand weather and are hoping to fly down to McMurdo tonight. However, the bad weather that kept my helicopter from flying may prevent the C-17 from leaving Christchurch, so they may be stuck there another night. There are also a lot of other people that have been stuck in Christchurch for many nights due to some damage to the runway on the ice shelf caused by the warm weather we had been having.

So, I'm stuck in McMurdo, they're stuck in Christchurch, and we all have things we need to do elsewhere! As the saying goes here, "It's a harsh continent."