Ice Stock!!!!

McMurdo Station has a long running tradition of hosting a music festival every New Year's called Ice Stock. Imagine 7 hours of bands with names like: Banana Hog and Steel Penguin, frozen performers, a coffee shack called "Sawbucks" operated by the carpenters, dancing cats, human sized Muppet's, and a few hundred McMurdoites yelling for one more song! It was awesome and the best part was, at 1am when it all wrapped up, it was still just as light out as it was at noon that day! It was a super fun way to ring in the New Year and we didn't even have to pay to be there!

Safety Band made up of Janitors and General Assistants

THE dancing cat!

Aaron warming up before the next band

Why wouldn't we have a Barber Shop Quartet?

Banana Hog! A local favorite.

The beginning of a New Year on the Ice

After far too long of figuring out the inner workings of Blogger and Google, We discovered that our photo size has taken up too much room and thus we ran out of space on Google! We tweeked some things and we are finally able to upload the rest of our Antarctica Pictures! Take your self back three months to January...

Slowly but surely, the Ross Sea and bay surrounding McMurdo Station began to melt out with the warmer weather of late summer season. The melting began along the shoreline with deep turquoise water and mysterious ice shelves reflecting beneath the surface.

A view of the bay from Hut Point

Hiking Hut Point Ridge on a super windy day! I couldn't feel my face when we got back to station!

Leaning into the wind with Christine and Sarah

One last visit to the Pressure Ridges with Aaron before the bay around Scott Base became too melted out to travel on. With the release of pressure and the coming thaw, the pressure ridges had begun to shrink and crack upward. There were enormous icicles and melt pools around the ice formations! And, Weddell Seals lounging along the melt pools with their pups!

Our little group following the red flag line around and through the pressure ridges.

As an annual tradition, The women of McMurdo Station organized and performed in the Cirque de Glace Women's Soiree. Every year, women on station put together a variety show to benefit a women's shelter in Christchurch, NZ. Little did I know when I signed my contract to be a shuttle driver that I was also signing up to be a member of the Shuttlers Dance Team! A week into work on the Ice, I was introduced to our performance theme for the year - Lady GaGa and the routine that we would be performing (a Ukrainian dance video that we got off of YouTube!). Apparently, this is a long tradition for the Shuttle Department and we were going to be creating a dance-off with the women from the Janitor department! After two months of practicing, we performed along with the Janos in dance-off fashion and it was super fun! I had my hair done, which took two hours to craft into a faux-halk and we all got jazzed up for the show! There's a clip of our dance on my facebook page if anyone is interested - we were all really relieved when it was all over and no one flew off stage.

The Janos and The Shuttlers before our debut!

1 Month to Go!

Hello from the Frozen land of Antarctica! We're experiencing some technical difficulties with the blog and exceeding google storage space so, this is a short update until I can figure it out.... any google experts out there?

 Ivan the Terra Bus with the C-17 that carried passengers to and from Christchurch, NZ. The sight of this plane means new people of station, fresh food, and package mail!

We now have patches of open water along the bay. The sight of moving water has been very peaceful and exciting since it bring with it tons of new wildlife that are eager to explore the seasonal hunting grounds beneath the ice. We've seen tons of Weddell Seals and Adelie penguins have started making short appearances. More photos to come on these visitors! 

On New Year's Day, Aaron and I hiked around station and enjoyed a morning beside the open water. Our patience was rewarded with the sight of swimming Weddell Seals. They look like giant sea slugs on land but are so graceful in the water. They dive and glide like they are birds in the open sky with no obstacles.

This is MAAG - McMurdo Alternative Art Gallery. The Carpenter's shop put this amazing event of every year and invites the community to contribute their own original work to the collection. It was like an amusement park met with multimedia explosions. There were paintings, short films, photographs, interactive submarines, a bowling alley, and a recycled fashion show. It was awesome!

Our pal Michelle with her and her husband's piece on re-purposed trash here on station - a woman after my own heart!

The skua bird. These scavengers have been dive bombing unsuspecting pedestrians who may be carrying blue trays of food out of the galley. They're vicious and very intelligent. I've seen four different attacks thus far and they stop at nothing to get a free meal.

Our beautiful McMurdo sound with the seasonal sea ice that is slowly melting

Hiking with friends along the Hut Point Ridge Loop

The wind was really crazy that afternoon! Antarctica is the highest, driest, windiest continent in the world.

One more trip the Pressure Ridges - they are so beautiful and change often due to the moving sea ice colliding with the Ross Ice Shelf. The two masses of ice slam into each other along the shoreline and cause the ice the buckle and crack. So beautiful!

One month to go before we leave the ice and get to go play in New Zealand and Hawaii for a bit. More photos to come soon. Thanks and have a great week!

mcmff 08 Road to Misery

This is a day in the life of Britt Driving to the Airfield.... thank you Plumber Walter and Shuttle Bill for the philosophical commentary!

Pressure Ridges

The coastline of the Ross Sea has been an incredible place to explore since we've been here. On a recent trip out to the "Pressure Ridges" we learned how these unique ice-scapes are formed and how they're utilized by the Weddell Seals.

Pressure Ridges are formed when the Ice Shelf of the Ross Island (Ice moving from land toward the sea) collides with sea ice that is being pushed toward the land by ocean currents. The two sheets of ice collide together in a "rifting" motion similar to plate tectonics that formed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The collisions start out looking like frozen waves and over a short period of time, break at the top and push upward until they collapse. Some of the ridges get very tall (maybe 20ft.) and create beautiful, geometric shapes along the coastline near Scott Base (the Kiwi Station that's 3 miles from McMurdo).

The Pressure Ridges also create holes in the ice and a haven for Weddell Seals to come up out of the water and utilize the sun and open air. We saw a Cow and her pup along with a large Bull Weddell Seal. As we continued on, we heard a barking seal coming from behind one of the ridges. We walked around until we found a seal swimming around in an ice hole and announcing his presence. It was a great trip and awesome to learn more about this unique ecosystem.

Our buddy Nate getting a great shot

Christmas Card from Aaron and Britt



Gila Wilderness in New Mexico



Dear beloved friends and family,

We hope this letter finds you filled with joy and peace as we all

approach the beginning of a new year! We are so thankful to rejoice in the

Christmas season with you all! Just over a year ago, Aaron and I exchanged vows, danced with hoola-hoops, and celebrated the beginning of our life together as husband and wife. We have learned so much about each other, ourselves, the beauty of God, and the world around us. As we continue to learn and grow by the grace of God, we are so thankful for all of your guidance and love toward us. Thank you for being a part of our lives! Blessings and love from Antarctica this Christmas season!

Aaron and Britt Thompson

aandbthompson.blogspot.com

Psalm 121:1-2

“I look to the hills, from where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and Earth!”

Our first year of marriage has been filled with many blessings of memories together with friends, family, and eachother:



Antarctic glaciers

 

The vast landscape of Antarctica where we built a
cairn to honor my grandfather, Kenneth Snively




Exchanging vows at the Goble Family cabin in the the Sangre de Cristo Mountains





Chiricahua National Park





Halloween in Ft. Collins - The old married couple...
one month after we got married :)



  

Graduation in December - a huge honor to have my family all there with me!


  

Our favorite 14er pose -
seemed right for the big day!




Grand Canyon National Park; on the Rim... it was 65 degrees in the bottom



Saguaro National Park



South Coyote Buttes on the Utah - Arizona Border







Elk Hunting with Brandon, Dad, and Aaron in the Sangres