ABOVE: A few interesting vehicles used around McMurdo, including (from top to bottom) Ivan the Terra Bus, a Delta, a Tucker Sno-Cat, a Pisten Bully, and a Mattrack pickup.
There are a lot of interesting vehicles down here, which are designed for getting around on the snow and ice. I’ve included pictures of some of the more interesting ones. In addition to these, there are standard vehicles, pickups and vans, which have been modified for the cold and snow (4-wheel drive, large snow tires, engine-block heaters, and hydraulic emergency brakes). When parked, vehicles are “hitched up” to electrical outlets to keep the engines warm. There are also a lot of bulldozers and tractors that are used in maintaining the roads. A few lucky people get to use the skidoos.
My first ride, from the airplane to the base, was on Ivan the Terra Bus. It's so big, the door entrance was at head level. We were taken to Happy Camp in a Delta, with 18 of us packed into the back. I'll soon be traveling across the sea ice to the drillsite, in either a Pisten Bully or a Mattrack.
