It usually takes about a week to get everything ready- at the end of that period, everything gets loaded onto one or more LC-130 aircraft and we head out onto the plateau. These fully loaded planes need good conditions to land; flat snow, no crevasses, and decent visibility (i.e., not too speedy of a wind on the ground). Once such a spot is chosen, we land, often a bumpy process as the pilot tests the ground by slowly lowering the weight of his craft down. Once we've landed, however, things shift into high gear- we have to get all of the stuff off safely, and make sure we have all the emergency supplies we need, while the plane keeps its engines running. In fact, the plane won't leave unless we have erected some form of shelter and made independent radio contact with McMurdo, just for safety. It's usually only a half-hour or so and then your umbilical to the civilized world is shattered as the plane flies away, leaving you to the silence of the Antarctic Plateau.