The Plane - Patriot Hills Camp - The Landscape - The Glacier - The Ice - The People - Activities

The Landscape & Climate 

Antarctica is about the size of the United States - as a continent, it is bigger than both Europe and 
Australia. The continent is very, very dry - it is basically a frozen desert. On average, less than 2 
inches of precipitation falls across the continent during the year and some areas see no precipitation 
at all.  Because of how cold it is in the continent, there is no vegetation and therefore no wildlife in 
the interior of the continent - the seals and penguins all live on the coast.  There is one sunrise and 
one sunset each year, with the sun just rotating around the camp during the summer.  There is a 
glacier that covers the entire continent that contains 90% of the world's fresh water.  There is 7 
million cubic miles of ice on Antarctica and if it was all to melt, the oceans  would rise by about 
223 feet.  In the summer, the temperature is relatively warm - we experienced air temperatures 
between 15 and 25.  When the wind picked up - to over 40 miles per hour - it would feel a lot colder 
outside.  Without the wind and with the blue sky and sun shining, it could feel a lot warmer - there 
were times when we could be outside without our jackets on.

This is a map of all of Antarctica.  Patriot Hills is located 100 miles north of Vinson Massif, in the area marked Ellsworth Land on the top of the map.    You can see a few mountain ranges, but for the most part, the continent is fairly flat, although there is a slope to a higher general elevation at the South Pole than at the coasts. 
 

The mountains are mostly covered by snow, although there is a lot of rock showing.  This is the Independence Range, which is part of the Ellsworth mountain range.  The Independence Range and the Patriot Hills surrounded our camp on two sides.  The tallest mountain on the continent - Vinson Massif - is part of the Ellsworth Mountains. 

When there are no mountains in view, you can see for miles and miles along the white snow plane.  You can't tell how far you can see because there is nothing to show you scale or to break your view.     
     

The wind blows interesting formations in the snow.  These formations are called sastrugi and are fairly small near the mountains but can get very around the ice shelves and in areas where there is significant uphill or downhill slopes. 
 

Because there is no way to gauge distance, everything looks a lot closer than it actually is.  These hills, known as the three sails, look like they are small and a few miles away.  They are actually full mountains that are located over 15 miles away.

The glacier that covers the continent is flowing out from the South Pole, moving almost 22 feet per year.  In some places, the glacier is actually able to climb over the mountains.  In other places it goes around the mountains.  Rocks get stuck in the glacier and move along with the ice.

The mountains are mostly rock and are difficult to climb because of their steepness, the heavy winds, and the snow.

Crystals develop on the rocks that cause white stripes on the rocks.  In addition, there are some strange rock formations, like this hole in the rock, which make hiking in the mountains interesting but also a bit dangerous in some parts.

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