After our ice camp was all packed up and squared away, we set sail Southward through the Gullet. It's New Years Eve in Antarctica, and we're pushing to get as far south as possible before our midnight celebration.
After five days of perfect weather, this was our first cloudy day since the first day on King George Island.
Escaping The Gullet - The boat trail leads off into the mountains. You can't even see the narrow pass called the Gullet that we passed through.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Through the Gullet with even less ice than we expected, we made a stop on Webb Island for some hiking and to see the beautiful graveyard of icebergs trapped in the shallow bay.
Passing - Riding in the zodiac boats through a beautiful iceberg mine field.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Helping Hand - Kevin, Paulyn & Noah beginning the trek to the summit by climbing the snow shelf from the beach.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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Because it's there. - C'mon. What's the worst that could happen? You could roll down the mountain gathering a huge snowball around you as you roll. Worst thing? I meant most awesome thing. - Photo by Kevin Fox
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After landing on the island, some of us took straight to conquering the summit, while Brian took an opportunity to create a temporary snowman-addition to the crew.
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Portable Bunny Trail - The wide gentle slopes of saddleback glaciers like this make great resting places for seals loking for a couple more runs before they go back in to the water for another snack. - Photo by Kevin Fox
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Solitude - I've always found graveyards peaceful, but never more so than when it's an iceberg graveyard whose silent strength dwarfs our ship in the background. - Photo by Kevin Fox
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Climbing - Kevin and I following the group up the the mountain. The plan is to get to the summit, at this point I've already decided I don't think I will make it up there. For one my knees are not always happy with steep climbing and some of that ahead looks steep, but also, I was inspired by the textures in the icebergs I saw riding in and Tim said he would take me too look at any that I want if I decide to come down early, I have to say I'm really tempted by this. In the end, Kevin and I made it just a little further than where the lead people currently are in this photo before the two of us and Paulyn turned around and headed back for our own private iceberg tour.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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The higher we went, the steeper the snowy climb grew until Paulyn, Rachel, and I decided it was wiser to document the progress of the others from midway up the mountain, and took some extra time to grab some beautiful shots of the strait between our own Webb Island and Adelaide Island.
Goat-Foxes - We let the others claim the peak while we documented the beauty around us, and the red dots that steadily shrank up the side of the mountain. - Photo by Kevin Fox
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The Expedition of Aughty-Eight - Nothing makes you realize just how much this place doesn't change than to try imagining (or re-creating) the photographs that might have been taken here a century earlier. - Photo by Kevin Fox
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Safe Snowman - Brian's snowman is demonstrating proper safety by wearing a life jacket. And of course his head will melt first since he is wearing his cosy warm head gear! I would worry that Brian was getting cold without this except that we were shedding layers too.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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On The Rocks - Grounded bergy bits on the beach. Say that 5 times fast. I desaturated this shot some because it gave a cleaner prettier look.
- Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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In The Distance - Once Kevin Paulyn and I all trundled back down the hill to the zodiac we looked back up to see where the rest of our group was now. We couldn't see much with our eyes, but my zoom lens found a few of them. - Photo by Rachel Lea Fox
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As you can see from the GPS above, we had already traversed far enough south that there was no such thing as sunrise or sunset, and we're now guaranteed to greet the new year with the midnight sun, but midnight's still a half-day away, so there's more to do...
Read the next chapter: Day 6: Ice Textures
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Telling the Story posted Jan 10, 2009
Day 0: Positioning posted Jan 12, 2009
Leaving, on a jet plane posted Jan 12, 2009
Day 1: The Herc posted Jan 15, 2009
Day 1: Penguino posted Jan 16, 2009
Day 2: Chicken posted Jan 17, 2009
Day 2: Leopard posted Jan 19, 2009
Day 2: Snow Day posted Jan 22, 2009
Day 2: Shipwreck posted Jan 26, 2009
Day 2: Totally Tabular posted Jan 27, 2009
Day 3: Gentoo Cute posted Jan 29, 2009
Day 3: Lichen Shag Glacier posted Feb 3, 2009
Day 3: Palmer Station Visit posted Feb 9, 2009
Day 4: Icy Penguins posted Feb 11, 2009
Day 4: Adelie Awesome posted Feb 15, 2009
Day 4: Leopard Seal Attack posted Feb 17, 2009
Day 4: Kayak posted Feb 19, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Station Visit posted Feb 23, 2009
Day 4: Vernadsky Sunset posted Feb 25, 2009
Day 5: Antarctic Circle posted Feb 27, 2009
Day 5: Polar Plunge posted Mar 5, 2009
Day 5: Mouth of The Gullet posted Mar 13, 2009
Day 5: Ice Camping posted Mar 18, 2009
Day 6: Flamingos on Ice posted Mar 20, 2009
» Day 6: Mountain Climbing posted Mar 24, 2009
Day 6: Ice Textures posted Mar 26, 2009
Day 6: Antarctic New Years posted Apr 2, 2009
Day 7: Crystal Sound Icebreaker posted Apr 9, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 1 posted Apr 17, 2009
Day 7: Abandoned Antarctica: Base W - Part 2 posted Apr 21, 2009
Day 8: Bird Watching in the Fish Islands posted Apr 23, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 1 posted May 5, 2009
Day 8: Icee Day - Part 2 posted May 11, 2009
Day 9: Port Lockroy - Base A posted May 20, 2009
Bonus Chapter: Baby Penguins! posted May 21, 2009
Day 9: Antarctic Humpback Whales posted June 3, 2009
Day 9: Dallmann Butt Sliding posted June 11, 2009
Day 10: Birthday Whales posted June 23, 2009
Day 10: Hannah Point Part 1: The Birds posted July 15, 2009
Day 10: Hannah Point Part 2: Elephant Seals posted July 22, 2009
Day 10: Deception Island - Part 1: Walking on the Moon posted Dec 11, 2009
Day 10: Deception Island - Part 2: The Martian Chronicles of Oz posted Dec 15, 2009
Day 11: Emperor Penguins posted Jan 8, 2010
Day 12: Black and White and Pink All Over posted Aug 4, 2011
More chapters posted every few days...
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