14 January 2008 Leaving the South Pole and Antarctica! Thank you and good by!

Journal

Leaving the ice! Thank you and good by.

South Pole:

Temperature: minus 28 C, Minus 18 F

Windchill: minus 38 C, minus 36 F

Wind: 6 knts.

Weather: Windy, clearing sky

It was time to go. Many hugs and good by’s. Amy met me at the ski-way. It was windy but overcast. However, as we were waiting for the plane to get ready, the sun appeared. When I walked towards the plane, a halo was greeting me right as I passed it: it was going to be a good flight back to McMurdo and Christchurch.

Last photo at the ceremonial pole:

Jauary 14, 2008. Elke just before the flight at the Ceremonial Pole at its new position in front of the New Elevated Station

Leaving the South Pole:

Monday, January 14, 2007. The "Herc” is almost ready to bring me over the Trans-Antarctic Mountains back to McMurdo.

Good seats inside the "Herc”:

We all enjoyed good seats during the flight. There were only 8 passengers and there was almost no cargo.

All enjoy the flight:

Elke, Northie, Southie, and new-comer "Polie” are all enjoying the flight. In 3 hours we were in McMurdo.

The Trans-Antarctic  Mountains.

The weather was perfect to view the spetacular Trans-Antarctic Mountains with its glaciers.

McMurdo:

Temperature: minus 5 C, plus 26 F

Windchill: minus 6 C, plus 28 F

Wind: 1 knts.

Weather: almost no wind, clear, sunny, high clouds.

On top of Observation Hill:

It was clear and sunny in McMurdo with almost no wind. I took the opportunity to climb the Observation Hill to greet the cross erected in honor of the Scott Party.

Penguins at the ice!

Though far away, I felt very lucky to have seen Adele penguins on the ice when I marveled the view from "Hut Point”. This is near the Scott Hut, however, it was closed.

Scott's "Discovery Hut" near "Hut Point”:

Scott erected this hut in 1902 before his first attempt to the South Pole. It is called "Discovery" Hut. Unfortunately it was closed

The George Vince cross:

This cross is in honor of George Vince, doctor of Scott’s expedition, who walked across the ice and was never seen again.

At "Arrival  Heights”:

From Arrival Heights one has a good view of Mt. Erebus, the active volcano in Antarctica.

Title View of Hut point:

The view back to Hut Point was incredible. An ice breaker was keeping the passage clear for cargo ships to arrive.

  "Bag Drag” was at night after dinner. "Bag Drag” means bringing the luggage to check and have the weight taken, including  your own with all the carry on bags and the <span class="tx-tooltip" tabindex="0">ECW<span class="tx-tooltip-text" id="polartrec_vocabulary-1548">(abbreviation) Extreme Cold Weather clothing</span></span> gear on.

Transportation time was around noon.

   "Ivan the Terra Bus”:

"Ivan the Terra Bus” would bring about 35 passengers to the Air field were we would await the C17 for our flight at 4 or 5 pm.

Martin from the South Pole telescope and Elke in front of the C17:

We had a lot of time until departure. The sun was beautiful and we could visit with some of the others of the 35 passengers.

 Inside the C1:

It was a comfortable flight: we were seated in a single row along the walls with no cargo in front of us.

Little Cargo:

Little cargo left us space to walk around during the flight.

Christchurch, NZ:

Temperature: plus 25 to 29 C, plus 77 to 84 F

Wind: light

Weather: Sunny and warm!

When we arrived in Christchurch it was dark: a new sensation for all of us. We returned our ECW(abbreviation) Extreme Cold Weather clothing gear (Extreme Cold Weather) and we were driven to our hotels. At 2: 30 am I was finally able to sleep. It was strange to be back in Christchurch within almost just 24 hours of having left the South Pole: with a temperature jump of 55 C and 100 F (not including windchill factor temperature).

The images of Antarctica will stay with me forever. This was one of the last views of last night In McMurdo.



View of hut Point:

I will never forget the images of Antarctica. This is a view of the area around McMurdo, near Hut Point from the ice shore, January 14, 2008

Thank you:

I am so glad I could share my excursion and journey with all of you. Thank you for having followed me to the very bottom of the world: the South Pole. I appreciated all of your questions and comments and I would like to encourage you to continue to do so.

I would like to thank everybody at the South Pole for their help, warmth, affection, and openness: for making me feel just like being at home and for helping me wherever they could.

I would like to thank particularly all the volunteers at the post office at the South Pole that helped sending off the 430 + mailings including almost 400 self-addressed and self-stamped cards of students I brought with me from different schools that I answered and mailed back to them from the Pole.

A great thanks to James Brown and the entire kitchen staff for all their smiles, greetings , encouragement, and their wonderful food!

My particular thanks to the South Pole management, BK, Beth, Vladimir, and Marty, for their generosity and wisdom to have an educator stay throughout the dedication to witness the moment of history: you can be certain that each moment will be shared with all generations of my past, present, and future students.

My special gratitude goes to Amy, Teresa, Andy, Bryan and Brian from the NOAA team and, of course, to Dave Hofmann, the principal investigator. Dave has made me part of the team already in 1998 when I first came to the Pole as a TEA teacher. His collaboration has been most valuable to my teaching. I am grateful for his interest to submit a second proposal with PolarTREC, almost 10 years later. With this second experience in Antarctica, the possibilities for future professional outreach and curriculum development will set an incredible important base for the remains of my professional life. The additional resulting personal connections are un-measurable and most appreciated. 

Many thanks also to the PolarTREC team in Fairbanks, Alaska, for all of their guidance and support. I am grateful to NSF for continuing to fund teachers to work with scientists in Antarctica. This incredible professional and personal experience has helped me to become a better advocate for our fragile "Big White Regions”.

Thank you to you all!

Summer flowers in Christchurch: