What's the most extreme weather that I have experienced so far on my trip? I
can brag that last week, up at 11,500' on the Erebus volcano, in a solo
mountaineer's tent and then in the Lower Erebus Hut, I experienced whiteout,
CONDITION ONE weather of -60° F and a wind speed of greater than 92 mph,
resulting in a wind-chill temperature of -90° F or worse. It was
pretty interesting to walk around outside in those conditions.
The lower hut is at about 11,500' with an equivalent air density altitude of
13,000'. The upper hut had been abandoned, after Erebus threw too many lava
bombs at it. Erebus often ejects hot lava bombs, from the size of bowling
balls to Volkswagens to Chevy Vans, flying out in ballistic trajectories
up to a half mile or so from the crater. Check out the Erebus website to learn more about the largest active volcano in Antarctica.
40% of our mountaineer's tents were collapsed by the storm. And so I was one
that turned to sleeping on the hut floor after the first of our 5 nights
there. Phil Kyle's group from New Mexico Tech had been in residence for a
few weeks and was completing their various volcanology projects on Erebus.
Phil has been coming up on Erebus since the 70's and this was the worst
storm that he had seen.
This was an intense and inspiring place to be. The professionalism and
calmness of Prof. Kyle's group set a great relaxing tone during the siege of
the storm. Cooking, reading, working and a group viewing of Wallace and
Grommet filled the time. Sarah Krall and I played guitar, both together and
solo. A few excursions outside the hut and tents were more than exciting.
After our fourth night the weather began to improve and a helicopter
attempted to pull out. FORTUNATELY, it could not make it in. I spent some
time visiting a nearby helicopter crash site and then a few hours later the
weather cleared up and around about midnight we headed on up to the crater
rim of Erebus. Pix of that journey follow in the next journal entry.
HK
 The 2 Lower Erebus Huts
 My Tent Center Hut Right
 Confronting the Clouds
 Strange Rock Formations
 Fun with Tents 1
 Lower Erebus Hut
 A Scott Polar Tent
 Fun with Tents 2
 Jeff- In from the Storm
 Waiting Out the Storm
 Hut Kitchen
 Hard Times
 Crashed Helo
 Helo Crash
 Sarah Krall
 Keeping My Face Warm
 Back to Main Henry Kaiser in Antarctica page
 Next Entry
 See video clips of Henry in Antarctica.
| 
