Pressure Ridges

I have wanted to tour the pressure ridges near Scott Base since the first time I saw them.  Both previous visits were too late in the season for them to be safe.  This year, I made it. My life is complete.

The intrepid explorers

I hope you'll understand my enthusiasm when you understand what they are. The ice from the glaciers in the TransAntarctic mountains flows out to form the Ross Ice Shelf, which we are on the edge of.  It pushes against Ross Island, upon which McMurdo defiantly sits, and crumples like uplifting mountains against the shore. 

The result is some fantastical formations.  We walked a posted path with a trained guide. The path is checked every few days for new cracks which can swallow the unwary tourist, either causing a twisted ankle, or worse, sending them to an icy oblivion beneath the sea, destined to become seal snacks.  The weather was gray and snowy, so the pictures do not do the uplifted ice formations the justice that pictures taken in full sunlight would. I like the pics with the sun shrouded by the clouds, though.  The black slug is a big fat lazy Weddell seal.

"Juuust sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...."