"It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." -
Sir Edmund Hillary -
Today I was put on the C-17 passenger transport again. I like ths job. In my particular role, two of us head out to Pegasus; the most remote of our two airfields in a van with flight lunches. We do not drive any passengers, but we do "herd" them off and on the plane. We are required to watch out for people who might wander off toward the engines, or miss their transport vehicle back to McMurdo or Scott Base. Today, we had a particularly complicated job as we had two important people arriving.
Today's transfer was quite unusual as it carried two very high profile guests to Antarctica. The first is
Sir Edmund Hillary. He made the third overland journey to the South Pole in 1958 and established Scott Base for the Kiwis in 1957. His greater accomplishment is the first successful ascent up Mt. Everest. Ironically, he used the following words in relation to this climb: "We didn't know if it was humanly possible to reach the top of Mt. Everest. And even using oxygen as we were, if we did get to the top, we weren't at all sure whether we wouldn't drop dead or something of that nature." The sad irony is that this 87 year old man was relying on oxygen for part of his flight down to The Ice today. Perhaps his attitude remains the same: he's still climbing those high "mountains" in life, even if success is not guaranteed. His presence here is an honor for everyone in Antarctica as Scott Base celebrates 50 years. The second guest, is
Prime Minister Helen Clarke of New Zealand (
click here for new release). While not directly involved with the Antarctic Program, her presence is an honor as well!
There was quite the to-do about these people when they landed. News cameras were in their face. They stayed on the airfield ramp for a half hour of interviews. It was a bit of a zoo, but also entertaining for Dave and I. The most difficult part of our job was to keep the folks flying home from running up and taking pictures. I felt a bit disappointed for them but we followed protocol pretty well. Everyone here hopes to get a picture with Sir Hillary and possibly an autograph on the NZ $5 bill with his face on it. For now, at least I have my photo in passing. I enjoy realizing that after all the hype, these important people are still just people!
Today I was put on the C-17 passenger transport again. I like ths job. In my particular role, two of us head out to Pegasus; the most remote of our two airfields in a van with flight lunches. We do not drive any passengers, but we do "herd" them off and on the plane. We are required to watch out for people who might wander off toward the engines, or miss their transport vehicle back to McMurdo or Scott Base. Today, we had a particularly complicated job as we had two important people arriving.
Today's transfer was quite unusual as it carried two very high profile guests to Antarctica. The first is Sir Edmund Hillary. He made the third overland journey to the South Pole in 1958 and established Scott Base for the Kiwis in 1957. His greater accomplishment is the first successful ascent up Mt. Everest. Ironically, he used the following words in relation to this climb: "We didn't know if it was humanly possible to reach the top of Mt. Everest. And even using oxygen as we were, if we did get to the top, we weren't at all sure whether we wouldn't drop dead or something of that nature." The sad irony is that this 87 year old man was relying on oxygen for part of his flight down to The Ice today. Perhaps his attitude remains the same: he's still climbing those high "mountains" in life, even if success is not guaranteed. His presence here is an honor for everyone in Antarctica as Scott Base celebrates 50 years. The second guest, is Prime Minister Helen Clarke of New Zealand (click here for new release). While not directly involved with the Antarctic Program, her presence is an honor as well!
There was quite the to-do about these people when they landed. News cameras were in their face. They stayed on the airfield ramp for a half hour of interviews. It was a bit of a zoo, but also entertaining for Dave and I. The most difficult part of our job was to keep the folks flying home from running up and taking pictures. I felt a bit disappointed for them but we followed protocol pretty well. Everyone here hopes to get a picture with Sir Hillary and possibly an autograph on the NZ $5 bill with his face on it. For now, at least I have my photo in passing. I enjoy realizing that after all the hype, these important people are still just people!
No comments:
Post a Comment