day 7 antarctica

Report: 7

This report filed Jan. 22, 1999

In these last few days of our trip, we have been racing around the continent trying to see as much as we can. We have been to the spectacular Dry Valleys, so-named because the wind sweeps away the snow and ice and freezes over the lakes. At Lake Hoare, divers plunge into the water [which hovers at a notch above 32 degrees Farenheit] to find microbial life—life which may mimic life elsewhere in our galaxy under similar, extreme cold conditions.

Speaking of that, our time there reinforced to us the dangers of Antarctica. One diver's air regulator got frozen, while he was underwater. He was losing air rapidly, and had to be yanked up. He was fine, but it was a tense 30 seconds.

We also went to the huge Canada Glacier there, where melting runoff has increased over the past few decades. Scientists are working on whether this is a definitive link to global warming.

Leaving the Dry Valleys, we helicoptered past the VXE Falls, a great frozen waterfall, and 1822, a mountain named for how many meters high it is [so it's about 6,000feet]. But, more thrills in Antarctica . . . our helicopter, piloted by the great New Zealand Air Force, showed an indicator that our engine was in danger of blowing up. We limped into a refueling station, fixed that problem, but another indicator showing an engine problem lit up when we set out to leave. Never make tight-deadline plans when you're on The Ice.

A short helicopter ride from McMurdo is the magnificent Cape Royds, where we encounteed thousands more penguins, and the hut of the legendary Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. All of the original bedding, clothes, even foodstuffs are still there, frozen intact. Shackleton's journey aboard The Endurance—where his ship was crushed by freezing pack ice and he ultimately led all of his men to rescue—is one of the world's greatest stories of survival.

Another short helicopter ride away is the hut of Robert Falcon Scott on Cape Evans. The same state of preservation is there, under the supervision of the New Zealand Heritage Trust.

The helicopter rides may be short, but the traverses to get to the location are often long and back-breaking, when you're trying to transport between 600 and 1,000 pounds of gear over steep rocky hills and long plains of rough ice. Fortunately, everyone who's been accompanying us has pitched in, and we've all found new appreciation for Sherpa mountain guides, although none of us will ever apply to be one.

Our crew is scheduled to fly out of Antarctica this weekend. We hope to be back in the States early next week to start putting together these stories for >The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CBS This Morning, Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, and other CBS News programs. We hope you enjoyed following us around and that you learned a little something about The Ice. Thanks!

We'd like to thank the National Science Foundation, which selected CBS News to report on the 1998-1999 summer scientific season in Antarctica. Special thanks to Dave Bresnahan, Mary Hanson, and Roberta Marinelli of NSF, Major Bob Bullock of the 109th Air National Guard, Commander Steve Wheeler and Captain Gerald Davis of the US Coast Guard, and Teresa Samuels and Steve "The Man" Dunbar of Antarctic Support Associates, who now know exactly how many pounds a network TV crew carries around.

Copyright 1999, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved