Visiting the crater was a pretty amazing and humbling experience. The weather was supposed to be getting worse so we figured we'd better take advantage and go, even though it wasn't the greatest day (in terms of plume activity.) We rode snowmobiles up to Nausea Knob, parked and climbed the last few hundred feet (about a half hour hike.)

The view from the top was truly spectacular. All around us the snow, mountains water and icebergs were sparkling in the sun. Looking over the 800 foot wall to the floor of the creator was not as scary as I thought it would be... had it been very windy, I might have felt otherwise.

The lava lake below was constantly steaming and boiling occasionally and waves of sulfurous steam would hit us periodically. We all made phone calls from the satellite phone and took tons of pictures.

We took our time coming down and picked up plenty of Erebus crystals. They are apparently only found in two places in the world; Mt. Kenya and Mt. Erebus. While making our way down, I was asked over the radio by the crew how long I wanted to stay. I replied saying that I wouldn't mind hanging around a bit on the off-chance of catching an explosion. Literally, seconds later the mountain blew and the ground shook; however, this particular 'burp' did not manage to fling any lava bombs out the top (which was probably for the better since we were well within range)... but we were all really hoping it might happen anyways, so that we could find some fresh lava (assuming we survived.. haha.)

I did how ever come across a bomb the size of a Volkswagen that Burmy and I saw get pitched the day before. It looked kind of like a big beached whale, only made of molten lava. It was hollow on the inside and had burned the rocks all around the base. Pretty cool!

~G