O-H-I-O

I made it home! Numerous flight reschedulings occured before the C-17 finally took about 30 of us from McMurdo Sound. Below you can see the lack of cargo allowed us all to stretch out during the 5 &1/2 hour flight from McMurdo to Christchurch. Now I am home with my husband and dog and we're laughing at some of the video footage I took in the valleys. I did pretty well with the still photos this season, but my video aim was slightly askew... for instance, I shoot an undergraduate lecture on chemical weathering in which my head was decapitated by the frame. To my credit it was 2 a.m., quite cold, and I had run out of chocolate and moved on to blocks of cheese.)One more look at that amazing sediment layer within a supraglacial stream channel on the Canada Glacier below (the dark band is about a meter from the surface of the glacier).
And below LeeAnn and I enjoy a lovely austral summer evening on the beach (sandy outwash from Canada Glacier). I'll add a link to her blog in the sidebar.
Below is an incredible example of the physical erosion that occurs in the Taylor Valley. Behind our camp at Lake Hoare a large piece of mountain broke off (perhaps in response to freeze-thaw) on Christmas morning. We rushed outside to make sure that cause of the rumble wouldn't crush us. (The camps on the other side of the glacier also heard the noise and gave us a call to check on us...).

To those that remain in the Taylor Valley (and/or head out soon) enjoy your season!