An International Airport in Antarctica

A few days back, we had a very exciting experience. The summer team
left that day. The choppers made their final sortie. And the ship left
India bay. That marks the official beginning of our wintering. The
previous winter team also flew back to Cape Town yesterday night. We
went to the Novo runway to see them off. The Novo runway is about 9 km
from here. We went there on pisten bulleys, which are tracked vehicles meant for plying on snow.

There is a huge 100 metre high glacier right behind our station that stands like a wall. We have to ascend it to reach the runway. Although it was quite steep and full of moraines and small crevasses, but the piston bulley was able to negotiate them
without any stress. Gradually, the terrain evened out. All landmarks were slowly disappearing from view. Soon, there were no landmarks to be seen- only a vast expanse of snow all around. If one is left there, one will not be able to distinguish one direction from another. Soon, we reached a cluster of tents that I realised was the 'airport.' In the distance, we could see an IL76 aircraft standing on the icy runway. We had reached a plateau. It was damn chilly there. Inspite of all the polar clothing I was wearing, I was chilled to the bone. After all, we were standing on a 2 km thick
layer of ice. It was the most fascinating airport I will see in my life. For miles and miles there was nothing but ice. The airport was like a tiny speck in the vast unending landscape. One could just gaze at the spectacular sights all around. We parked our vehicle in the 'parking area', and then the luggage was loaded on to sledges pulled by snow scooters upto the aircarft. We went to the cafeteria in the nearby tent and had plenty of fresh fruits and chocolates- things we will yearn for all the year round. The facilities were rudimentary, but the best that could be managed under the conditions. The passengers were taken to the aircraft on sledges like they had taken the luggage.
This is the only "international" airport in the world where you can walk right upto the aircraft and actually board the plane to see off your near and dear ones. The runway was on blue ice, which is very slippery. We had to walk on it with extreme care.
The IL 76 is a Russian airforce transport aircraft with capability to land on ice. It did look like a transport aircraft from inside- crude and rough. But it was comfortable and heated- thankfully. After a round of goodbyes, we started back for Maitri. On our way back, one of the vehicles started slipping on the descent to Maitri as it was very steep. It had to be towed down. The exercise took about 2 hours, but was handled efficiently by our logistics team. We finally reached back around 12 midnight.