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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Red 1 is a Canadian Foremost Chieftan with a 1200 gallon foam/water fire package in the back. One of my favorite vehicles to drive and operator in our fleet, it's a 7-speed forward and 4-speed reverse manual transmission. Red 1 tops out at a wopping 7 mph (I've actually walked faster than Red 1 one day while it was "topped out"). Irregardless it holds a special place in my heart. Red 1 is out of service for probably the remainder of our season down here to to a catastrophic failure of the drive train at its articulating joint. Hopefully it will be back up and running soon!
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Red 2 is another newer Chieftan. Almost the same as Red 1 with its differences being Red 2 has a 2 person cab versus a 4 person cab and Red 2 has an automatic transmission. Red 2 can drive a few mph faster than Red 1 but nothing to brag or write home about.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Nodwell 3 (Nod 3 for short and it's radio designation) is another Canadian Foremost product. Nodwell 3 carries over half a ton of Purple K fire extinguishing agent (much like the dry powder found in fire extinguishers...in short the Nodwells are nothing more than big-ass fire extinguishers you can drive).
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Nodwell 4 is almost the same as Nodwell 3 with the major difference being that Nod 4 carries 200 gallons of a foam/water mixture on top of 1250 lbs of Purple K extinguishing agent.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Red 4 is a Ford F-550 with a Grip-Trac conversion. The fire package is a combination Compressed Air Foam System (CAFS) and Purple K dry-chemical extinguishing system powered by compressed Nitrogen. Red 4 has a twin sister, Red 3, who's currently located at the South Pole Station.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Reds 5 and 6 are the same vehicles as Reds 3 and 4 with the difference being they utilize the smaller (yet slower) Matt-Tracks in place of tires.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
Ambulance 2 I believe is an old Ford F-350. If it looks like a piece of shit thats because it is a piece of shit. For a vehicle that doesn't get as much wear and tear as the others it sure likes to break down when ever it wants. I will give it credit, however, that its managed to hold on this long. Asides from medical emergencies on this side of the McMurdo Permanent Ice Shelf (that includes Williams Ski Field, Pegasus Airfield, the road system between the airfields and New Zealand's Scott Base heading for Mcmurdo, the rugby field, and the field training sites), Ambulance 2 is used for medevacs off the continent. If the patient can tolerate or risk the 30+ minute drive from McMurdo out to Williams Field or Pegasus which is even further, Ambulance 2 will be driven into to town to pick up the patient from the clinic and then drive them out to which ever airfield they'll be leaving from. Sometimes more critical patients are flown via helicopter from McMurdo to an airfield in which case Ambulance 2 will provide "shelter" and a viable workplace for us and the flight nurses to work.
The Town
The ice town that makes up Williams Skifield is made up of various modular trailers located on skis to facilitate movement as the ice shelf moves into Ross Island (also to tow buildings to various places for maintenance.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2007-2008 |
This is one of a couple of Air Traffic Control Towers located on the airfield. Notice the skis and the tow bar on the bottom of the building. They're actually pretty cool buildings to be in. I'll post pictures of the inside when I get some.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
This what the town looks like in a nutshell. The powerplant is a large diesel generator housed in a shipping container placed on skis. Powerlines are routed from the generator via telephone poles and the buildings themselves to all of the buildings out at the airfield. The first orange building on the right is our galley.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
This little gem is the airfield bathroom. Somehow, in the midst of the Antarctic Treaty, the "chief export" of the airfield bathroom (as my friend words it) gets plumbed down through almost 300 feet of snow and ice into the Ross Sea below. The smell emmited from the pipe down to the sea below is horrendous...even in the cold or the worst of storms.
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
This is the ramp where the aircraft park with the Royal Society Mountain Range in the background. With the aircraft that are stationed at Williams Field for the season, at most you can see 7 LC-130 Hercules operated by the New York Air National Guard, 2 de Havilland Canada DHC=6 Twin Otters, and 2 Douglas DC-3 "Basslers".
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
That mountain you see is Observation Hill which is located on the back edge of town (McMurdo Station). The main part of the station is located approximately 7 miles from Williams Ski field.
For some odd reason I don't have many photos of Station 2 life in Station 2. You're not missing much though. A couch or two, a computer, a small kitchen and even smaller bunk rooms...one of which also houses the Lieutenant's office:
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| From Antarctica - Austral Summer 2008 - 2009 |
If you like peace and quiet for a shift or two, Station 2 is a blessing. A little home away from home (McMurdo that is).
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