A Down Valley Wind

 
I feel like I have been constantly hiking or on a helicopter after writing about our cold experience in the Wright. After that post Cliff and I left the next day for Fryxell with the limno team, but not before flying over to the Garwood Valley with John, Matt, and Marie, to collect samples. A day later, Amy, Cliff, Toby and I were invited by John (Priscu, the lead scientist for the extended season) to fly back to the Wright to hike from the Upper Wright Glacier down through the Labyrinth to Don Juan Pond, where the helo picked us up six hours later. Each of these areas deserves a post until itself, if not multiple posts, but with limited time I have to summarize.

The Labyrinth is basically the result of a humongous flash flood, a winding maze of canyons that at first suggests the American Southwest. The walk from the Labyrinth to Don Juan Pond is one long dramatic drainage, with a view for miles down the valley below. Split by a mesa-like ridge called the Dais, the south side of Upper Wright Valley all flows into the salty sink of Don Juan Pond, which I have mentioned before as having the saltiest water on Earth. So far this is the only body of water on Earth where no life is found. See it centered in the picture above, taken on approach to the pond. The surrounding slopes were dramatically reflected in the still-liquid water, cut intermittently by floating skims of ice–a rare sight as the pond does not freeze until -50 F. It was probably -20 F that afternoon.

(Photo credit: Tristy Vick) Everyone in the Valley for Easter weekend–all eleven of us–flew out to Bonney for delicious food and a fabulous party, the first Easter celebrated in Taylor Valley. The fern in the picture is definitely fake. We hiked back to Hoare two days ago with a down valley wind at our backs in a brief moment of warm temperatures–around 30 F. Basically at this point the weather is either cold, clear, and calm, or warm and very windy. Although we were warm walking back from Bonney along the pleasant valley floor, you could hear high winds blasting the mountain tops, sounding like a passing train or a distant roaring waterfall. Far above us, plumes of snow and dirt were visibly pouring off the taller peaks.