Observation Hill

There seem to be a lot of features and spots here called "Observation," but I suppose that is because there is a lot to see.  As I mentioned before, McMurdo is situated at the base of Mount Erebus right near Observation hill.  It is a short hike up, bout 45 min to an hour round trip, but it is one of the few hikes around here that you can do on your own without signing out and submitting your route info (known as submitting an efoot plan).  I have gone up Ob hill a couple times now, since it is an easy way to escape and from the lab for a while and clear my head in the evening or early morning.

Apparently it is new this year, but about half-way up Ob hill is this beautifully crafted wooden box, with the Antarctica Trail System logo affixed to the front.  I was so excited to open it, thinking there would be something amazing inside such a carefully crafted box!  I opened the latches and was a bit confused when all that lay inside was one of the blue trays from the cafeteria here.... what?  There was a pencil inside with the tray and everyone had signed their names on it.

At the top of the hill is a giant cross which was erected in 1913 in commemoration of Captain Scott and his men who froze to death on their way back from the South Pole on the Terra Nova Expedition.  One of the huts built on Captain Scot's first expedition (the Discovery Expedition during 1901-1904) to the pole is just near camp and with a tour guide you can actually go in the hut -- (my adviser Yo is apparently a certified guide, so I will hopefully convince him to take me on a tour soon!).

The signature box -- sign the blue dining room tray!

 Captain Scott's cross on the top of Ob Hill

There are nice views of both McMurdo and the New Zealand base, Scott Base from the top:

McMurdo Base from the top of Ob Hill.

 

 A view of the Kiwi base from Ob Hill.  They are located right near the pressure ridges where the sea ice meets the glacial ice shelf.   The pressure between the two causes the upheaval of ice, which forms the ridges.

The NASA observatory dome up on the hill behind McMurdo.  I thought the crane next to the dome helped in actually seeing the scale of the dome, it's huge!

As I mentioned previously, the rest of the group out to the field the other day, but I don't think I mentioned the collection of field food prior to their departure, known here as food-pull.  I just ran across the picture when looking for pics of Ob Hill, and I wanted to share it. We grabbed so much food, it was a lot of fun!

Freeze-able, dried goods from food-pull (everything must be sorted into do-not-freeze and can-freeze piles for shipment out to the field site)