One last Adelie Penguin at Willie Field near McMurdo Station before we head to where no critters lives.
Our flight to the South Pole was pretty uneventful. My bags were already checked in from flying to McMurdo. All I had to do was weigh in with my carry on gear and catch a shuttle ride out to Willie Field on the Ice Shelf. From there, we milled about, used the bathroom, ate some delicious cookies at the airport galley, and got on our plane, a LC-130 Hercules. The plane is a custom fit of the C-130 Hercules with skis, which lets it land on softer snowy runways.
A close up of the LC-130 landing gear.
The US Air National Guard LC-130 Hercules planes are equipped with skis for landing on the ice.
This flight was pretty much the same as the one on the C-17. People along the side, cargo in the middle, and lots of waiting. The one small difference as a passenger was the bathroom facilities. Instead of a small unlit airplane toilet, you get a curtain, and what I thought was just a garbage can. On the flight, there were 2 of us wintering at the South Pole, one person heading up for a week of work, and ~7 distinguished visitors (i.e. military brass) who head up to the Pole for an hour of photos and shopping at the store while the plane refuels before heading home.
The front inside of our LC-130 Hercules.
In the photo above this one, you can see a white curtain on the right. Behind it is one of these 'toilets'.
The first part of the flight is pretty quiet over the Ross Ice Shelf. There isn't much to see. However, depending on where you are going, you are likely to cross the Transantarctic mountain range. The mountains offer up one scenic vista after another and kept me on my feet as long as I could see them.
Flying over the Ross Ice Shelf. This is what a lot of the flights around Antarctica look like.
If you are lucky, you get to travel along the mountains.
Map of Antarctica with the Transantarctic Mountain Range circled.
Close up of the Transantarctic mountains
Another view of the mountain from our tiny plane windows
After about an hour of flight time, we cross the mountains onto the Polar Plateau. From there, there isn't anything to see but the white beyond for as far as you can see. At that point, we all just settled in for the last hour and bundled up a little bit more because this flight was definitely colder that the one to McMurdo.
The last bit of fun on the flight was the Air National Guard practicing a cargo drop when we got near the South Pole. To try and minimize their time on the ground, they sometimes just drop palettes out of the moving plane. Those tracks just allow them to roll right out the back and onto the snow a few feet below. Unfortunately, I flubbed the video to show it going out the back. Instead, you get the same first blinding view of the area around the South Pole that I got.
Our first view of the South Pole area just after the cargo drop.
The back of the LC-130 after the cargo drop.
Next up, the Poles! No, there isn't just one.
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