Day in the Field: Numero Uno!

Fueling up the skidoos before heading out.  McMurdo in the background, us on the frozen sea.

See the gigando crack?  How do we know its safe to cross?

By drillin baby!  We basically take a cross section profile of the crack, drilling at several places to determine if it is safe to cross.  Here we drilled down to about 70cm before we hit sea water, which is plenty thick enough for snowmobiles to cross.

And now we choose our field camp location, in the lee of the island, blocked by the wind, in view of Castle Rock (in the far background on the right; where communications units are), and within walking distance of the Big Razorback Island seal colony (see the seals just right of the island?)

And a picture reserved for the mother.