Climbing Ob Hill

Observation Hill from McMurdo Station

There are several hiking trails on Ross Island.  The first one I did was Observation Hill, it's a climb of about 755 feet to the top and I climbed it twice while I was in Antarctica.  The first time I didn't get all the way to the top, there was still a lot of snow on the trail and I didn't take my yak tracks.  I found myself slipping a little and decided to go back down.  The last part of the trail is literally a hands and knees climb over volcanic rock to reach the top.  The trail starts just a little past the helo pad and climbs up to an old road.  The road was put in back when the Navy ran the station.  About halfway up there is an old nuclear reactor site.  The Navy used a small reactor to power the station until 1972 when it was decommissioned, probably due to the Antarctic Treaty being signed.  The buildings are gone now as well; but the wooden platforms where they used to sit are still there.  It is the only nuclear power plant to ever operate in Antarctica. From there, it's a very steep climb the rest of the way to the top over loose volcanic rock.  It's quite a cardio workout.  General German, Adjutant General for NY, would climb it twice a day while he was there, once even leaving his jacket at the top so he "Had" to go back up to retrieve it.  At the top is a wooden cross erected in memory of Robert Falcon Scott and the men that perished with him on his return trip from the South Pole, their bodies now permanently encased in ice on the Ross Ice Shelf.  The cross is quite tall and is inscribed with the names of Scott and two others along with a final line from an Alfred Tennyson poem "Ulysses" which reads "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

When you are at the top, you can literally see for miles on a clear day.  I'm not crazy about heights so I didn't hang around on top for too long and almost made part of the trip back down sliding on my backside.

Start of Observation Hill trail

A look back toward town from just a few feet up the trail

Plaque giving the history of the nuclear plant(hopefully you can read it)

Platforms where buildings that housed the nuclear plant used to stand

Platforms where buildings that housed the nuclear plant used to stand

Platforms where buildings that housed the nuclear plant used to stand

My first attempt, this is probably 50ft from the top

McMurdo Station from the top (The blue building that looks like a speck is actually a huge facility)

Wind Turbines from the top of Ob Hill

Cross at the top of OB hill with the Royal Society Mountain Range in the background.  If you look very closely on the left side of this photo you can make out what looks like it might be a couple of LC-130's at Williams Field

"To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Looking down at the sea ice from the top.

Congrats, you've just gone on your first hike in Antarctica with me!  Stay tuned, there's plenty more exploring to be done.