GETTING AROUND

There were plenty of vehicles around McMurdo.  This is just a sample of them.

A Hagglund.  Apparently these are designed to float if you should happen to break through the ice.  They have hatches in the roof to escape through.

A PistenBully.

All of the vehicles were kept plugged in to electricity to keep the engines warm when not in use.

A Caterpillar Challenger.  Nice.

A Ski-Doo Skandic.  We used eight of these and two older Ski-Doo Alpine 1's for our expedition.  The Skandic's were brand new.  They had about three miles on them when we got hold of them.

A Tucker SnoCat.  Now THAT's 4-wheel drive.  They're old, but they're still going strong.  They may be funny looking, but they can pull a lot of weight.

A Nodwell.  I'm not sure if that was the real name, or the name given to it because of the movements your head made when riding in the back.  I think it's the latter.

The Delta.  This one was usually used for shuttling people back and forth to the ice runway.

This is 'Ivan' The Terra Bus.  It was used mostly for hauling people to and from the ice runway.

There were several Ford trucks with Mattracks.  These were wannabe replacements for the SnoCats, but they have nowhere near the pulling capacity of the SnoCats.

Ford 4x4 vans and trucks with really fat tires.

One of several C-141 Starlifters that flew between New Zealand and McMurdo hauling people and cargo.

An LC-130 Hercules with skis (that's what the "L" stands for -- don't look at me...I didn't come up with it).  These made flights between New Zealand and McMurdo, as well as between camps and bases on the continent.  The C-141's required a perfect ice runway.  The C-130's were able to land on not-so-perfect runways, so they got around more.

De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter.  They were owned and operated by the Canadian company Kenn Borek Air Ltd.  These planes bounce back and forth between the Arctic and the Antarctic depending on the season.  They were used for all of the short missions between places like McMurdo and camps in the middle of nowhere.  They didn't need any runway.  Just a reasonably flat place to land.

An A-Star 350 or "squirrel".  I didn't get to fly in any helicopter on this trip.

DIRECT LINKS TO PAGES:
THIS IS SUMMER?
NICE ZEALAND
McMURDO, ANTARCTICA
GETTING AROUND
HAPPY CAMPER SCHOOL
JUST PRACTICING I
JUST PRACTICING II
JUST PRACTICING III
SCOTT
SHACKLETON
BLACK FLAGS I
BLACK FLAGS II
BLACK FLAGS III
THE KIWIS ARE COMING!
THE SUNDAY BOONDOGGLE
WEATHER
AND AWAY WE GO!
THIS IS IT??
AN EXTRAVAGANZA OF SCIENCE
WHERE WERE WE?
LINE SHOOTING 101
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
FOOD
OTHER CAMP STUFF
GPS CONFLUENCE GEOCACHING PHOTOGRAPHY
BYRD SURFACE CAMP
PACKING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

2006-Jul-30