South Pole Arrival

---

We arrived this morning on Mission P318. It was -28C and -42C with windchill. I unloaded off the plane and people were there to greet me saying that George Blaisdell had asked them to take good care of me. People at Pole are really nice and the station is amazing. I definitely felt the altitude after the walk from the skyway to the station, having to stop and catch my breath. It wasn’t so much the exercise, instead I noticed it most when I was trying to move my body and speak at the same time. I guess that is what that extra 25% oxygen is for. We had a quick in-brief with Beth and then I found my room B1-101. I took a short walk inside the building, and given that it is at 11,000 feet and I was dizzy and my extremeties were tingling from the Diamox, I managed to get lost multiple times. The building isn’t complex, but my brain really wasn’t at 100% I had a 2:30 meeting with Al Baker, head of science support discussing the logistics of the thermos flask project. We wrapped things up and then I took another nap. It was really strange sleep though. Just as people in McMurdo had said, I woke up numerous time realizing that I wasn’t breathing. 3 times my body actually kicked the clothes drawer at the food of my bed to wake me up and telling me to breathe. So strange. I shot a little film around station and then met Kent with the IceCube project who had been invited for a tour of the ICECUBE data processing building, and I tagged along for a fun snowmobile ride. When we got back to station my hands were frozen and my beard was freezing from my breath which was collecting on my beard and freezing in place, so exciting. We had halibut with fresh baked bread , root vegetables, scalloped potatoes and green salad! What a meal - delicious and I cant wait for breakfast.

Goodnight!

---

Photos

Ready to Board
This is a goofy photo of me

I made it!
Finally made it to pole after 3 days of travel