The Transantarctic Mountains

Inside the cockpit of a C-17

On a very busy flight to Antarctica

We made it to Antarctica! After an early 8am departure from Christchurch, we landed smoothly on the ice and arrived safely at Scott Base. The views from the plane were absolutely overwhelming – glacier covered mountains as far as the eyes can see. Words can’t express the beauty of Antarctica! The US AirForce crew even invited us to check-out the cockpit of the C-17 plane. To the left side, we saw the deep-blue Southern Ocean with some sea-ice floating at its surface. To the right, the Transantarctic Mountains welcomed us with majestic glaciers under a perfect blue sky.

The field component of the Postgraduate Certificate in Antarctic studies started off with a blast. Everybody is in high spirits and can’t wait for tomorrow’s “Sealathlon”.