Finally made it to the Allan Hills

After several bad weather days, we finally made it to the Allan Hills. The Allan Hills are a 45-minute flight from McMurdo across the McMurdo Sound and over the glaciers just north of the Dry Valleys. It took four Twin Otter flights to get all our gear there.

Flying over the Mackay Glacier

Flying over the mountains just before the Allan Hills

The Twin Otter taking off

Once we landed in the "deep field," we were required to set up a tent and make contact with McMurdo before the plane could leave us behind. By the time the two Twin Otters returned with our second load of gear, we had set up two of our four tents, a Scott Tent and the Arctic Oven. Two of our tents were for sleeping, one was for the toilet, and the other was for cooking and science preparations.

The two Twin Otters lining up to unload our gear