the pegasus

The reason I got all layered up was for a special trip out to The Pegasus.

Pegasus was a plane that crash landed on the permanent ice shelf. Everyone survived. The plane is still there; mostly covered by drifting snow and hard to identify except for its' orange tail. The plane is also the namesake of the Pegasus White Ice Runway. This is an airstrip made of compressed snow that is pack hard enough to land wheeled aircraft on. This is the airfield that I landed at a month ago.

I had been out to see the plane on a couple of other occasions, so the reason I joined the group was for the photo opportunity and to see the sunset without the buildings and power lines from town. The trip takes about an hour. In a crowded van with iced over condensation on the windows, it's not the most comfortable ride, but we made it.

By 20:00, or so, when we were out there the sunset was pretty spectacular. Clouds make the colors much more vibrant and diverse! I never stop being amazed at how beautiful the mountains are down here; made all the more spectacular because we see them from sea level all the way up to their full height (and we have a 14-er to gaze upon)!

The treat for me was looking back towards Ross Island and McMurdo. While every seemed to be enraptured by the Royal Society, the little island we all call home turned pink.

In terms of weather, we could not have picked a nicer day to be out there. The winds were at a minimum and the temperatures were above 0F.