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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Warehouse23" data-source="post: 3078440" data-attributes="member: 27941">guedo79 -- Most science staff fly commercial flights from their home cities to Christchurch, NZ. The US Air National Guard (of NY) and the NZ air force handle flights down to the ice--either in C-130 cargo planes (a solid 8 hour trip, crammed in knee-to-knee with your compatriots and surrounded by shaking boxes of produce) or a more modern jet cargo plane (I want to say C-4, but not the plastique kind), which is a 4-6 hour flight, and is rather like spending the afternoon in a spacious, humming warehouse. Piratecat-- In the dry valleys, temperatures range from about -20*C to right around 0*C during the peak of summer. It feels wicked cold, wicked quickly when the sun dips behind a valley wall, and wind-chill is a pain (60 mph or faster katabatic winds drain into the valleys on a nearly daily basis). Truth be told, though, the coldest I felt there last field season was when cold, wet air (e.g., blizzards) blew in from the coast. Most of the time it's cold, but it's a dry cold, which is less sapping. Field researchers adapt to the cold by working hard, keeping moving, and eating lots of chocolate and hot tang.</blockquote>