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Today is Sunday again. I got up early and walked up oberservatio hill before 7 AM today. The cross at the top has a great inscription.

From Wikipedia:

Observation Hill is a large hill (750 ft/230m) adjacent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica and commonly called "Ob Hill" (prononuced Obie). It is frequently climbed in order to get good viewing points across the continent. Regular clear skies give excellent visibility.

Robert Falcon Scott's party was found by a search party led by the surgeon, Dr. Edward Atkinson. They were found dead by the members of the base camp, who took their photographic film, scientific specimens, and other materials. They had to leave Scott and his men in their tent, and later parties could not locate the campsite, since that area had been covered in snow. So Scott's party eventually ended up drifting out to sea as part of an iceberg as the ice shelf made its way to the sea.

The search party then returned to what is now known as McMurdo and climbed Observation Hill. There they erected a large wooden cross, inscribed the names of the fatal party and a short quote from an Alfred Tennyson poem which reads "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

Climbing ob hill by yourself early in the morning is a great simple pleasure. It is not easy to climb, first of all. The view is fantastic and the solitude and respite from town, welcome. It took me less than an hour. My clothes were still in the dryer when I got back.

I have been working on my 5 minute movie for the annual McMurdo Film Festival. I am happy with the results so far. I have a lot more editing to do.

The building in the picture is the National Science Foundation administration building on campus, the Chalet. It overlooks my shop, bldg 159, AKA; the puzzle palace.

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