To the top...

No matter where you go, no matter what you're doing, no matter who you are don't you always want to get to the top?  Better view, more vert, bigger drop, better pay, more power.  Different strokes for different folks, but seems like we're all trying to get to the top of something.  Here's a few things I've stood on top of in the last few weeks.

 The pinnacle at Mt 1882.  This one has about a 20' climb down to a saddle, a 20' climb up to the pinnacle, and a 1000' exposure off the back side.  You're looking down about 6000' down to Lake Bonney.  It can be pretty exciting
up here when the wind decides to gust.

Some more climbing around at the top of this 1882 meter tall summit revealed a significant number of ventifacts (rock formations shaped by sand and wind erosion).  Many of the pictures that follow are of various ventifacts throughout the dry valleys on the west side of McMurdo Sound. 

Its remarkable that winds blow like they do here, shape the rocks, and they stay perched on ledges, cliffs, and spires. 

                                       

On top of the Cotton Glacier taking samples from what is categorically the only river on a glacier in Antarctica.

What looks like a beach here is the river running atop a medial moraine (sand, dirt, and rock deposits) nearly in the middle, and on top of the Cotton Glacier.  Below is a video of our flight over the river, and its terminus into what are called moulins (the holes in glaciers where streams and rivers are swallowed up).

Large venefact boulders in the Miers Valley with the Miers Glacier in the background.  

Atop Friis Mt, many rock formations here, and plenty of wind. 

Probably my last post from the ice.  Hope you enjoyed it.  I've got one more theme, but we'll see, lots to do before I go.  The next posts may come from NZ.  Cheers. M