Ob Hill
One of the main jobs in shuttles is to support the airfield. This includes driving flight crew and pax (passengers) between the aircraft and Willy Town (the support buildings around the airfield), and Willy Town and McMurdo. One lucky person each day spends a few hours in a van "on call" out at Willy Town- ready to hop-to at a moment's notice to taxi people around. You can get a lot of knitting done if its slow, or have a million runs to make at once if its busy!
I never thought I'd find a more low-tech gas station than the one Liza and I stopped at in Vietnam... but this is where we fill our van out at Willy Town! Can't beat the scenery!
Willy Field gas station- Diesel is in the larger tank to the right
To operate: you scramble up the snow bank (about 3' high), twist open the valve at the large tank, pull a thick black hose back down the snowbank, put the nozzle into your tank, and squeeze. There is no gauge to tell you how much you've put in, and no automatic shut-off valve, so you have to get good at listening to your tank and knowing when it is close to full!
For comparison: here is a typical Vietnamese gas pump, like Liza and I encountered last Christmas.
photo from flickr.com, by strange_skies
I've probably burned more fuel here in the past two months than the entire last year in Seattle! McMurdo is definitely oil-reliant, and our vehicles certainly won't win any awards for their MPG, epecially with the tires inflated to a mere 15 PSI!
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